Casino Magnate Finds Legislators to Support His War on Online Gambling

As casino magnate Sheldon
Adelson
promised last fall, efforts to restore a federal ban on
Internet gambling (and eliminate his competition) are pushing
forward. Rep. Jason Chavetz of Utah and Sen. Lindsay Graham of
South Carolina, both Republicans, are introducing legislation to
make Internet gambling illegal.
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

A draft that has been circulating on Capitol Hill declares the
legislation would “restore longstanding United States policy that
the Wire Act prohibits all forms of Internet gambling.” Its goals
are consistent with the highly publicized campaign by billionaire
casino owner Sheldon Adelson to outlaw Web gaming.

In recent years, Congress has been unable to sustain momentum
for any piece of gambling legislation, pro or con.

But lobbyists say a wild card this time is Adelson, the
megadonor to Republicans and their causes who believes online
gambling is unsafe and bad for society and who has vowed to spend
“whatever it takes” to stop its spread.

Online gambling is unsafe and bad for society, but the
legislation apparently excludes betting on horse races, so if
anybody thought the legislation wasn’t cynical nonsense, there you
go. Matt K. Lewis at The Daily Caller
speculates that exemption is there as a way to get Sen. Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky on board.

Adelson’s competitors in the casino business, many of whom are
fine with the growth in online gambling, have started their own
activist group to oppose Adelson’s:

GM Resorts and the American Gaming Association have launched a
competing group, the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection,
with former Republican Reps. Mary Bono, R-Calif., and Michael
Oxley, R-Ohio, as spokespersons. It advocates legalized online
gaming, regulated to protect gamblers.

“Banning all online gaming nationwide, as this bill effectively
does, would put American consumers at serious risk,” Bono said in a
statement Wednesday. “It is impossible to stand in the way of the
Internet; instead, we should embrace and shape these new
technologies in a way that is safe for consumers.”

Lots more on America’s absurd attempts to block online gambling
(even though a majority of the public supports allowing at least

online poker) here.