A Little Spin on Why/How the Ban Happened.

[Miamipuck]

Have not seen this article before. It mentions that the White House got the legislation the last little push it needed to get attatched.

Link to Article

[Hock_]

How does the Republican Congress passing a bill previously (supposedly) blocked by Abramoff demonstrate anything other than that the Republicans were influenced (most charitable word available) by Abramoff in the first place? Stated otherwise: that they changed their position after Abramoff was removed from the equation suggests that Abramoff's influence was what prevented the legislation in the first place.

If anything, the Reps' flip-flop is an indictment of their involvement with Abramoff, not a repudiation.

[lfairban]

According to this NY Post article:

" But opponents of the bill charge that the NFL broke the rules when it fast-tracked legislation that never even got a vote in the Senate - a trick play that provided a big exemption for fantasy football.

The NFL runs its own fantasy football site, and gets royalties from others. Fantasy contest companies generate up to $200 million a year, according to an industry association. "

. . . whereas according to the above link:

"Leading the corporate lobbying effort in support of the bill – and in opposition to the efforts of UK companies such as SportingBet and Partygaming – was the National Football League, which said it wanted to crack down on sports betting because it hurts the integrity and perception of football in America."

The NFL does have a fantasy football site.

Abramoff was lobbying against the online gambling ban on behalf of eLot Inc., parent company of eLottery Inc., which wanted to help states sell lottery tickets online.

<snip>

Reed's work on behalf of eLottery came while he was also doing other work for Abramoff. That work had Reed conducting antigambling campaigns across the South for two Indian tribes that feared the expansion of gambling would cause competition.

E-mails Show Ralph Reed knew of Jack Abramoff's Ties to Gambling

Confused? Good! You are starting to catch on.