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Different Website for a radio station.

Gambling is illegal in Georgia, so promoting internet poker on the air is in violation of FCC rules and Federal law. Is this actually for a radio station, or could it be for another enterprise?
 
Witchlover said:
Gambling is illegal in Georgia, so promoting internet poker on the air is in violation of FCC rules and Federal law. Is this actually for a radio station, or could it be for another enterprise?
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The lottery is gambling. Cherokee NC is very close and this station has city grade in parts of NC.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WNGM&service=AM&status=C&hours=D

To my knowledge there are no federal laws against gambling. The IRS even has a "form" I forget the number for gambling expenses and winnings. The Feds just want the tax money.
 
True, the lottery is gambling, but states with lotteries simply exempt their lotteries from the gambling laws. (It's good to be King!) Radio stations may carry advertising for state lotteries from their states and from contiguous states. Thus, a station in Georgia may carry state lottery ads and information from Florida, SC, TN, 'Bama & NC as well as from Georgia; but not from Kentucky or Mississippi. There is no Federal law that I know of which prohibits gambling, this is true, but interstate gambling using communications devices is illegal. This is why the gaming sites have been chased offshore. FCC rules and Federal law do prohibit stations from airing lotteries (gambling) and define this as any game of chance for which a prize of value is offered and for which participants are required to render consideration. Technically, church raffles, PTA casino nights and VFW drawings are all lotteries, and stations may not air information about them. I've had a few situations where I have had to explain this to people wanting to promote their raffles and contests on the station where I worked, and some of these otherwise reasonable people became quite ... unreasonable.

As I understand things, stations may carry horse races in states where such is legal. Although network television does carry the Kentucky Derby and there is mention of odds and payouts, I believe that this has been either dealt with by special legislation, or it is considered to be a news item since it is an event of national interest. Other sports broadcasts cover points spreads and such, but you never hear them mention actual betting on the final score.

Turkey shoots, home-run derbies, etc. are not considered lotteries, by the way, because winning them is a matter more of skill than of chance.
 
Witchlover said:
True, the lottery is gambling, but states with lotteries simply exempt their lotteries from the gambling laws. (It's good to be King!) Radio stations may carry advertising for state lotteries from their states and from contiguous states. Thus, a station in Georgia may carry state lottery ads and information from Florida, SC, TN, 'Bama & NC as well as from Georgia; but not from Kentucky or Mississippi.
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How do the Atlanta TV stations air commercials for the Mississippi Casinos. I have seen the Beau Rivage (a really nice place BTW) commercials before and during the news casts this summer on Channels 2, 5, 11.

BTW has The District of Columbia's internet video poker started yet? D.C. being a "ward" of the Federal Government does have the "king" on their side.
 
I have never seen the commercials: they do not air in Savannah.At least, I haven't noticed them. I would say, though, that those spots probably mention everything but gaming - facilities, amenities; luxuries.

DC internet poker, eh? I need to look into that. I cannot answer your question because I do not know.
 
Witchlover said:
I have never seen the commercials: they do not air in Savannah.At least, I haven't noticed them. I would say, though, that those spots probably mention everything but gaming - facilities, amenities; luxuries.

DC internet poker, eh? I need to look into that. I cannot answer your question because I do not know.
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IIRC it is the DC lottery that is trying it.

Cherokee NC had a big deal about their booze and new video / human blackjack. It is weird, the "dealer (human)" takes and gives out chips but the computer "deals" the cards. The Cherokee ads are on Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta radio and TV stations. The last two summers the Mississippi Gulf C of C (or somebody) ran a bunch of commercials showing people actually gambling, along with the other things people do do there and they mentioned the "action in their Casinos at night." This was a part of trying to rebuild business after the oil spill and before that the hurricane.
 
Well ... I seem to be correct in an incorrect sort of way. According to this:

http://www.rbr.com/features/ideas-w...-for-casino-gambling-and-other-lotteries.html

From the third paragraph under the heading, "Casinos and Other Lottery Advertising Prohibition":



[In 1999] the FCC adopted a policy not to enforce the federal law that prohibits the advertisement of commercial casino establishments where they are legal. The FCC expanded the Court exclusion to include lotteries conducted by a State acting under State law and broadcast in that State or any other State which conducts such a lottery and certain contests conducted by not-for-profit organizations. ...

... In addition, the FCC rules now also contain two further broad categories of exception to the general ban. The first is any lottery conducted by a not-for-profit or governmental organization. Note also that in order to qualify as not-for-profit an organization must be tax exempt under §501 of the Internal Revenue Code.

The page cited goes into further detail. You and I will both have to explore the topic in depth to achieve a complete understanding of the issue. These laws, although modified by the court actions cited, are still on the books. The FCC has chosen not to enforce them at this time.

This can change at any time, however. I can think of three cases where this might happen:

  • A citizens organization could sue and seek an order requiring the FCC to enforce the laws it has chosen not to enforce at this time;
  • A Conservative majority could come to power and change pertinent laws, tighten definitions and remove the Commission's authority to exercise its discretion in the matter; i. e., forcing the FCC to act;
  • A future Administration may appoint new members to the FCC who then change the policy so that enforcement of these laws is resumed.

But since so many states now either have lotteries or derive tax revenue from gaming, I do not foresee this occurring any time soon.

My information was out of date, and because of this I was not correct in my response. My apologies for that.
 
With technology changing and the FCC only caring about collecting fees and is you EAS and Public file current, it is a RF a wild west.
 
No doubt. I saw it coming when Reagan started the deregulation ball rolling back in the 1980's. From time to time, the FCC has attempted to increase the scope of its authority; but in truth, it is barely keeping up with its current responsibilities.
 
This is Gil Moor's station in Hiawassee and, believe me, he's not in the gambling business. Just a program he was carrying for a short time.
 
That looks like the kind of site that pops up when you forget to re-register your domain and someone else snags it. On that topic (off that topic?), I set up a website for $2.99 for the year via this method. Bought a domain for $2.99 from one of the forwarding services that let you buy every possible combination of names available then park them; forwarded it to a free wix.com page. Viola! Volare! Viacom! Web page for $2.99.
 
Witchlover said:
Reagan started the deregulation ball rolling back in the 1980's.
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IIRC 80 / 90 (mess) was started when Carter was president. I remember the relaxing of meter readings. The was a rumor that the Carter "chosen" head of the FCC wanted radio stations to become as common as corner gas stations so if a station went off the air, nobody would miss it.

A good friend of mine got simi rich because a lot of stations started to "built out" their allocation. A lot of C's or (B's in your are in the northeast) were not running the full power or antenna height they could have had. (electric bill cost) so to protect themselves the went the full 100 KW (50KW class B). Latter the old class C's were allowed to go to 6KW from 3KW if there was no interference. He sold transmitters.
 
Hey Guys,

We shut WNGM down July 31st, 2011. One of the many stations that have gone dark over North Georgia. I believe the website registration ran out shortly thereafter. I assure you that none of the owners of WNGM did the website or have ANYTHING to do with it! That looks like some sort of scam that is camping at the former website for WNGM.
 
That confirms my first impression that this was something other than a legitimate station web site.

Whether it was Carter or Reagan who got the deregulation ball rolling, I think it has not been good for broadcasting - perhaps for certain corporations, but not for industry or the profession.
 
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