Lobbyist Helps NFL Get Internet Gambling Legislation Passed
The NFL used lobbyist Marty Gold, a former counsel to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), to “ram through Internet gambling-curbing legislation in the final minutes of the legislative session,” according to sources cited by Geoff Earle of the N.Y. POST. 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.” The league first tried to “tack the bill onto final defense legislation that couldn’t be amended.” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue wrote Senate Armed Services Committee Chair John Warner (R-VA), saying that the bill “was an ‘achievement’ he could be proud of, but that couldn’t get through the Senate by regular means.” After Warner refused, Frist “hatched a new plan to add it to a bill to secure the nation’s ports.” U.S. House Homeland Security Committee Chair Pete King (R-NY) “allowed it onto his port bill without a vote by negotiators.” King: “I’m not going to stop a bill because of Internet gambling” (
N.Y. POST, 10/10).
Thanks a lot NFL, you know you could have had them narrow the bill to only include betting on sports.
