Gambling News by Gambling Headquarters

Jim Chanos of New York's Kynikos Associates was bearish on internet gambling sights long before Senate majority leader Bill Frist "ambushed" the industry with a bill making most internet gambling illegal. Contrary to claims detailed on a website yesterday, it didn't take an elaborate scheme of inside information about the Senate's legislative schedule to tip Chanos off on the dangers to internet gambling. For Chanos, the writing was on the wall, in the online gaming companies' prospectuses and already built into various state laws. "We were floored when the Senate bill came up and passed in the middle of the night," Chanos told DealBreaker in an interview this morning. On September 30, 2006, the US Senate passed the port security improvement act of 2006 by unanimous consent. The bill included an amendment preventing financial entities from processing credit cards, checks and similar transactions in connection with Internet gambling. Despite the fact that similar measures had passed in the House, many were caught off-guard by the inclusion of the anti-online gambling provisions in the Senate Bill. Indeed, some commentators had speculated that the Senate lacked time on the legislative schedule to pass the bill.