[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 183 (Friday, November 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17358-S17359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         LA COLLINE RESTAURANT

  Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, for several years, La Colline 
restaurant has been designated by Washingtonian magazine as one of the 
area's best eating establishments. To those of us on Capitol Hill, it 
has become somewhat of an institution.
  Last month, the magazine Report on Business designated our own La 
Colline as one of the world's 20 best restaurants for business, 
reflecting a national, even international, following.
  On behalf of the Senate, I congratulate my friends at La Colline for 
receiving this honor, and ask that the Report on Business article on La 
Colline be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

                [From Report on Business, October 1995]

                           ``I Know a Place''

       The largest media merger in U.S. history was set in motion 
     by a chat, over dinner, between Disney chairman Michael 
     Eisner and Capital Cities chairman Thomas Murphy. It's not 
     important that we know exactly what the two men ate, or 
     whether the chef is now entertaining bids for the movie 
     rights to the menu. What's important is that $19 billion 
     (U.S.) eventually changed hands because something about the 
     style, the personality, the rightness of the setting allowed 
     two executives to get friendly over food. No one says the 
     outcome of a working lunch hinges on the amount of lemongrass 
     deployed in the scallop ravioli. But when you're dealing 
     while you dine, selecting the right restaurant matters. At 
     home, you know what works, which place fits the tenor and 
     times of your business. You may even know the name of the 
     maitre d', and so you get the right table, and Marco brings 
     the S. Pellegrino with lime without you even having to ask. 
     When you're out in the world, on someone else's turf, 
     selecting the ideal spot for Tuesday's get-to-know-session 
     gets trickier. One wants to be au courant (nothing could be 
     deadlier than appearing drastically out of date), but one 
     wants not to be brushing chairs with the latest grunge music 
     phenoms. Once you sit down, applying the rules that work at 
     home can be disastrous--every city's corporate style is 
     different. Many Atlantans like to brandish a smoking stogie 
     the first chance they get. Try that in Toronto and waiters 
     will pull back your thumbs until you cry. To help you avoid 
     the pitfalls among the profiteroles, we've enlisted writers 
     familiar with the current attitudes and idiosyncracies of the 
     corporate communities in 18 of the world's most important 
     cities. Their job: To find the restaurants that work best, 
     because they reflect the times and tastes of the places where 
     Canadians go to do business. The only safer choice is not 
     even an option, because when the firm wants you out there, 
     you can't order in.
                                                                    ____


                               La Colline

                          (By Colin MacKenzie)

       In Washington restaurants of a certain pretension, there is 
     a practice that is as unnerving as it is universal. As each 
     new patron arrives in the dining room, eyes rise, flick 
     across the newcomer, and return to the conservation at hand. 
     If you're Newt Gingrich, the lunch-hour chatter will stop. 
     But since you're not, it won't.
       This rite of tribal life in status-obsessed Washington, 
     D.C., has been taking place for more than 13 years at La 
     Colline, the definitive establishment restaurant on Capitol 
     Hill. Two blocks of lawn from the senate side of the Capitol 
     Building, La Colline is one of the closest restaurants to the 
     legislative centre. Under the guidance of co-owner and 
     executive chef Robert Greault, La Colline has kept its large 
     green-carpeted dining room filled by sticking to the 
     Escoffier basics in a town that, whatever the politics of the 
     moment, remains a bastion of cultural conservatism. It was 
     (modestly) revolutionary last year when Greault decided to 
     institute seasonal menus. But regulars--lobbists, lawyers and 
     other congressional congregants--didn't have to worry. Along 
     with such new arrivals as blackened tuna and a few pasta 
     dishes, survive the old standbys: vichyssoise, lobster 
     bisque, steak and fries, medallions of pork and eggs 
     Benedict.
       Because Washingtonians tend to work through dinner, lunch 
     is when to join the local crowd. You have to be fast, though. 
     The efficient and attentive service is designed to meet the 
     Washington rule of the 45-minute lunch. Like the restaurant, 
     the wine list is conventional and not exorbitantly priced. 
     If, however, you wish to emulate the denizens, iced tea or 
     sparkling water are your drink of choice.
     
[[Page S 17359]]


             DESPITE LEGAL ISSUES, VIRTUAL DICE ARE ROLLING

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I ask that the following article be 
printed in the Record.

                    [From USA Today, Nov. 17, 1995]

             Despite Legal Issues, Virtual Dice Are Rolling

                          (By Linda Kanamine)

       Forget Las Vegas. Skip Atlantic City.
       In an instant, on-line card games, slots, roulette, keno, 
     craps and sports betting could be available to everyone with 
     a computer and a phone.
       Everyone is ready--the games, the virtual casinos, even a 
     new way to pay.
       Billions of dollars are riding on just one more thing, the 
     government's OK.
       But so far, law officials are saying ``No dice.'' The 
     technology may be fine, but there's no protection for 
     bettors.
       ``People are literally being asked to send money to 
     somebody 4,000 miles away, who is not regulated and not 
     controlled,'' says Minnesota Deputy Attorney General Tom 
     Pursell. ``Just give him your credit card number and trust 
     him to tell you when you've won. Now, what's wrong with this 
     picture?''
       Even as law enforcement balks at virtual casinos, the vast, 
     unregulated Internet computer network has about 200 gambling-
     related sites.
       While most are how-to-play tutorials or ads for future 
     games, a handful are defiantly taking wagers.
       ``The vice watchers are really taking a look at this,'' 
     says Jeff Frentzen, who follows Internet trends for PC Week 
     magazine. ``The Internet is insecure. It's become a major 
     hot-button issue and there will be many attempts to put 
     controls on it.''
       But how to control it?
       Upstart operators already are in business in the Caribbean 
     and Liechtenstein as they capitalize on the appeal of gaming.
       Players, propelled by a new electronic cash system that 
     replaces credit cards, already can click their computer mice 
     on a handful of on-line sites and place their bets.
       Most of those still look like a kid's video game. 
     Blackjack? Your cards come up under the dealers' hand, you 
     choose ``hit'' or ``stay,'' the computer adds up your cards 
     for you. Roulette? The wheel turns on screen as you click 
     your ``red'' or ``black,'' ``even'' or ``odd'' numbers.
       Some are clearly adults-only. Sex World, for instance, 
     features topless female dealers.
       Still, it's hardly the $10 billion bonanza that gambling 
     afficionados predicted would explode across the Internet six 
     months ago. Gambling enthusiasts remain worried about 
     ripoffs.
       The first court challenge comes in December when Minnesota 
     Attorney General Hubert ``Skip'' Humphrey Jr. tries to stop 
     Las Vegas-based Granite Gate Resorts Inc. from offering on-
     line gambling.
       Humphrey says simply advertising a future service is 
     consumer fraud because federal and state laws bar betting 
     over communications wires or with credit cards.
       ``We're trying to raise the issue before the cat's out of 
     the bag with this,'' says Pursell, his deputy. ``This sets a 
     precedent on dealing with the Internet in general.''
       Policing computer users could ultimately affect cyberspace, 
     from chat rooms and shopping to pornography and, of course, 
     gambling. But blocking computer gambling may be tougher than 
     hitting a royal flush.
       A recent study found nearly 37 million people in the USA 
     and Canada now have access to the Internet.
       And polls have found at least 65% of adults have gambled, 
     from lotteries and office pools to illegal sports bets. 
     Wagering on legal games (casinos, lotteries and racetracks) 
     has skyrocketed from $17 billion in 1976 to $480 billion last 
     year and more than $500 billion this year.
       Last month, St. Louis' Mark Twain Bank opened the first 
     electronic-cash accounts. The bank turns account dollars into 
     e-cash credits, which the customer spends on-line. The 
     customer sends an encrypted code to the bank, which approves 
     the payment.
       ``I absolutely believe there will be billion-dollar 
     companies 10 years from now doing interactive gambling,'' 
     says Colleen Anderson, president of IWN Inc. in Carlsbad, 
     Calif., which develops interactive gambling programs.
       ``The potential is phenomenal. But we've got big hurdles to 
     get over, like the regulations to say it's legal,'' she adds.
       Meanwhile, entrepreneurs have headed offshore to take 
     advantage of lax regulations abroad and the distance from 
     U.S. law enforcement officials.
       Many, like 34-year-old Toronto businessman Warren Eugene, 
     are betting that U.S. agents will be too busy to bother with 
     at-home gamblers.
       His Internet Casinos is run from the Caribbean islands of 
     Turks and Caicos. Click onto the site's home page and an eye-
     patched pirate runs a hand through coins and jewels 
     overflowing a treasure chest at this ``Caribbean Casino.''
       Registered players with passwords choose from 18 games, 
     including Asian favorites, and casino themes ranging from the 
     cowboys-in-leather West World to the topless Sex World.
       In five months, he claims 25,000 have registered to play; 
     2,800 from Canada, Europe and especially Asia bet regularly. 
     Casino jackpots have paid up to $1,400 and a football bet 
     ``well over $100,000.''
       With 22% of the gross going to the company--far higher than 
     Las Vegas casinos, which hold about 8%--and no sizeable 
     overhead costs, Eugene predicts ``huge, huge, huge profits, 
     almost obscene profits.''
       He says he doesn't accept U.S. gamblers unless they have an 
     offshore bank account and even warns Americans on the home 
     page to stay away.
       There's no such warning on one of the newest gambling 
     sites, a weekly Lotto run by the government of tiny 
     Liechtenstein. Launched Oct. 7, it promises a minimum weekly 
     jackpot of $1 million.
       Justice Department officials concede gambling isn't a top 
     priority. ``The Internet, we have no set policy,'' says 
     spokesman John Russell. ``It's a very exciting time to be in 
     law enforcement looking at these issues. The scope is so 
     obviously huge.''
       Yet most law enforcement agents insist that gambling is so 
     stigmatized by links with organized crime, scandals and fraud 
     that it must be regulated.
       Critics say virtual casinos will increased debt and social 
     angst. ``People will get involved over their heads,'' says Ed 
     Looney of the Council on Compulsive Gambling in New Jersey.
       ``On-line hits a bunch of people who are the shut-ins, who 
     will now have access to a casino,'' he says.
       And many will be underage wagering behind the anonymity of 
     a modem and their parents' credit cards.
       So where is all this going?
       ``There isn't a lot of activity yet. I think there's a 
     wait-and-see attitude while the martyrs go out and . . . make 
     the mistakes,'' says PC Week's Frentzen. ``The Internet is a 
     free system. It was never intended to be used for commercial 
     purposes. The biggest hurdle will be consumer confidence, is 
     this safe?''

                          ____________________