Barney Frank calls for UIGEA reprieve?

[The Buzz]

The British media has Buzzy all muddled and confused today. They're reporting that Barney Frank reportedly (you with me so far) wants to repeal/set aside the UIGEA for two years. Then they use this recycled quote from last March:

Last March, Frank said: 'Adults are entitled to do with their money what they want to do.'

I'm right with you there Barney. But that still doesn't address the repeal issue. Hope this is true. But my peeps in D.C. haven't heard about this either. Maybe one of the Casino City folks can confirm?

[MichaelCorfman]

Well, I know Barney is definitely a friend of the online gaming industry.

And he is actually my congressman! We do some things right here in my section of Massachusetts.

Way back in 2000, I wrote him as my congressman letting him know I opposed the enactment of the legislation being proposed at the time prohibiting online gambling.

On July 10, 2000, I got the following response from him:

Dear Mr. Corfman:

I agree with you completely in opposing the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. I would have hoped that the American experience with alcohol in the '20s and '30s would make my colleagues far more skeptical of new forms of prohibition than they have been. I agree with you that this legislation violates the principle of leaving the Internet unregulated, and violates as well the privacy of millions of Americans. While I do not myself gamble, I think it is a choice that adults should be able to make for themselves, and I do not support restrictions of this sort, especially when it involves a very intrusive form of regulation of the Internet. When this bill came up in Committee, I argued and spoke against it, and I will continue to oppose it.

Barney Frank

What can I say. I'm glad Barney is my congressman.

Michael

[GPWA Aaron]

Sometimes "The Buzz" has it right, and sometimes "The Buzz" gets it wrong ... unfortunately, this time it's only rumor.

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Frank spokesman denies rumor

February 22, 2007
by Aaron Todd

Repealing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is not on the House Committee on Financial Services' to-do list.

Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) railed against the UIGEA last year as an invasion of privacy before, during and after its passage last year, leading to rumors that he was moving to repeal the legislation. Reports that Frank suggested a two-year UIGEA amnesty helped lift PartyGaming's stock more than 10 percent yesterday, according to thisismoney.co.uk.

The rumors, however, are unfounded.

"As you know, he is opposed to restrictions on online gambling," said Frank's press secretary, Steve Adamske. "But there is nothing currently underway to repeal the restrictions on Internet gambling in the United States. There are a lot of reports coming out of Europe and I have no idea where they are coming from. There hasn't been anyone on our staff talking about that, including the Chairman."

PartyGaming stock fell by 3.6 percent in trading on Thursday.