A number of big name UK based online gambling companies are paying big bucks in support of pro-online gambling lobbying efforts in the United States.
A weekend report in The Telegraph revealed an interesting insight into behind the scenes corporate efforts to sponsor and push current legislative efforts to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and replace it with laws more friendly to UK based operators.
The list of big name UK gambling companies contributing significant cash to lobbying efforts in the US is long, and by no means exhaustive. Sportingbet, PartyGaming, Pokerstars, Camelot Group and lesser known payment processor UC Group were all notable contributors to lobbying efforts - the later having tipped in more than a third of their GBP 3 million in pre-tax earnings to the cause last year.
The report went on to reveal that the large sums being directed toward political support are not dissimilar to what has been happening in the UK for some time now. The only difference is the fact that there is no obligation in the UK to disclose payments to British politicians -while in the US such amounts mst be reported.
And apparently it's money well spent. Kobus Paulsen, UC Group's CEO was confident that its an expense that will eventually bear fruit. "We are certain that our efforts will yield an open market for non-US based gaming operators," he told The Telegraph.
Another gambling company spokes person said: "You simply have to put your money to work in that way at times. If we opted not to lobby, legislation would not be promoted."
The legislation referred to here is no doubt Barney Frank and Roberto Menendez's draft Bills aimed at opening up the US market to offshore online gambling operators. At last count, Frank's new law had 50 co-sponsors and counting , so it appears lobbying efforts are having the desired effect.
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