Pay Pal and NY

[smf]

Almost put this over on Off Topic but since some here use PayPal to fund accounts I put it here...

I'd heard that ebay was buying paypal but hadn't heard of this. Is the AG there looking for state tax collection here from the avg Horseplayer Joe? If so, one w/ think he has better things to do.

Anyone think that Schwartz or Nyra nudged the AG, or is this guy looking for votes (or... just doing his job as he sees fit)?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/t...pal.b33ab.html

PayPal gets subpoena for online gambling activity
07/12/2002

Associated Press


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Online payment provider PayPal Inc. said the New York state attorney general's office has issued a subpoena seeking information about the company's involvement in Internet gambling.

Mountain View-based PayPal received the subpoena earlier this week and plans to "cooperate fully" with the request, company spokesman Vince Sollito said Friday.

A spokeswoman for the office of New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer declined to comment on the request.

Spitzer, who has attracted headlines recently for cracking down on alleged conflicts of interest at investment banks, has been scrutinizing the online gambling market industry, which is expected to hit $4 billion in revenue this year.

PayPal has been getting a piece of the action by collecting fees for sending bets through its e-mail service. Online gambling accounted for about 8 percent, or $117 million, of the $1.46 billion processed through PayPal during the first three months of this year.

The rapidly growing payment service will stop handling online gambling transactions later this year if San Jose-based eBay's proposed acquisition of PayPal is completed. Citing legal concerns, eBay disclosed the plan to withdraw from the online gambling business Monday when it announced its proposed $1.5 billion acquisition of PayPal.

Gambling outside authorized sites, such as horse racing tracks, is illegal in New York and many other states. Online casinos have skirted U.S. authorities by establishing headquarters in offshore locations.

Critics of online gambling, including Spitzer, have been trying to curb the industry's growth by pressuring credit card issuers and other payment services to stop dealing with Internet casinos.

[Tom]

I have more repsect for the big white mint in urinals than I do for Elliot Spitzer. If on-line gambling is on the top 10 list of important things he should be doing, then he isn't living in NY. I certainly hope the "opposition" finds some nice juicy skeletons in his closet that will totally destroy him before the next election. Whatever it takes to get the enemy out of office. Far more damage has been done to this sttate and country by the stock market and crooked corporations that horse racing ever di or ever will do.
I have been looking for NTRA's response to this.....has anyone seen it? I assume they will be stepping up to the plate? DHYB!

[Figman]

Here is an interesting article from Albany (NY) Law School.
http://www.als.edu/glc/wagering/inetgambling.html