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Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino mogul who made his $35 billion fortune through legalized gambling, has spent years seeking to outlaw internet gambling.
Despite numerous setbacks over the years, Adelson may finally get his way next month by having Congress increase federal power over the states via an obscure and unrelated 1961 law.
The Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), bankrolled by Adelson, seeks to extend the Federal Wire Act of 1961 to ban the “bad, addictive” practice of online gambling.
Surely Adelson wouldn’t spend millions lobbying Congress to ban online gambling for moral reasons, so what’s the catch?
The original intent of the Federal Wire Act of 1961 was to prevent mobsters from using telephone and telegraph systems for organized crime, most notably for horse racing and other Sports Betting. T
he authors of the 1961 bill intended to cut down on the revenues of organized crime, not to prevent states from legalizing internet gambling, which clearly did not exist 56 years ago.
Adelson Wants To Shut Down His Competition
The Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, unsurprisingly backed by Mr. Adelson himself, has spent years lobbying Congress to ban online gambling. RAWA, written by Adelson’s lobbyists,
is not intended to stop online gambling entirely. Rather, its true intentions are to stop the forms of online gambling that compete with Adelson’s casinos.
Over the years, Adelson has tried several ways to promote his agenda at the federal level, including in the 113th Congress when Congressman
Jason Chaffetz introduced a version of the bill in the House,
while Lindsey Graham introduced a companion bill in the Senate. When that failed, Adelson donated $20,000,000 to the Senate Leadership Fund,
and got a bill introduced on his behalf during the 114th Congress.
After both of those attempts failed, Adelson even got Jeff Sessions to concede during his confirmation hearing for Attorney General that the nominee was
“oppose[d]” to a 2011 ruling by the Department of Justice which restored oversight of online gambling back to the states. Now that the
Department of Justice has yet to act on his agenda, he’s returned to the 115th Congress, determined to stop online gambling once and for all.
SOURCE AND ENTIRE ARTICLE
Despite numerous setbacks over the years, Adelson may finally get his way next month by having Congress increase federal power over the states via an obscure and unrelated 1961 law.
The Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), bankrolled by Adelson, seeks to extend the Federal Wire Act of 1961 to ban the “bad, addictive” practice of online gambling.
Surely Adelson wouldn’t spend millions lobbying Congress to ban online gambling for moral reasons, so what’s the catch?
The original intent of the Federal Wire Act of 1961 was to prevent mobsters from using telephone and telegraph systems for organized crime, most notably for horse racing and other Sports Betting. T
he authors of the 1961 bill intended to cut down on the revenues of organized crime, not to prevent states from legalizing internet gambling, which clearly did not exist 56 years ago.
Adelson Wants To Shut Down His Competition
The Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, unsurprisingly backed by Mr. Adelson himself, has spent years lobbying Congress to ban online gambling. RAWA, written by Adelson’s lobbyists,
is not intended to stop online gambling entirely. Rather, its true intentions are to stop the forms of online gambling that compete with Adelson’s casinos.
Over the years, Adelson has tried several ways to promote his agenda at the federal level, including in the 113th Congress when Congressman
Jason Chaffetz introduced a version of the bill in the House,
while Lindsey Graham introduced a companion bill in the Senate. When that failed, Adelson donated $20,000,000 to the Senate Leadership Fund,
and got a bill introduced on his behalf during the 114th Congress.
After both of those attempts failed, Adelson even got Jeff Sessions to concede during his confirmation hearing for Attorney General that the nominee was
“oppose[d]” to a 2011 ruling by the Department of Justice which restored oversight of online gambling back to the states. Now that the
Department of Justice has yet to act on his agenda, he’s returned to the 115th Congress, determined to stop online gambling once and for all.
SOURCE AND ENTIRE ARTICLE
