Land based casinos spent $25 Million To Ban Online Gambling
While the New York Police smashed an illegal sports betting ring believed to have processed $500 million in bets through the Costa Rica based website 50ksports.com, USA Today reveals that American land-based casinos and American Indian tribes have spent millions lobbying Congress last year as lawmakers considered legislation to ban online betting.In other news, Joel Barry, Chairman of ECHO, said the company agreed to cooperate with the US DoJ as a witness after the federal government assured the payment processor that it will not be prosecuted. “Frankly, we did not feel like we had the time or money to challenge this in court,” said Barry. 
In October 2006 after the passage into law of the UIGE Act, Electronic Clearing House shut down its business with firms that provided payments for online gambling sites and froze funds totalling $21 million belonging to e-wallets, probably NETeller and Firepay.