Bill to ban online gambling reintroduced to US Senate

ll which seeks to ban all forms of online gambling has been reintroduced to the US Senate.

Senators including Republican presidential hopefuls Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham have filed S 1668, the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), a bill backed by American casino magnate and Republican Party donor Sheldon Adelson.

Graham and fellow congressman Jason Chaffetz first formally introduced the bill in March 2014, but it failed to receive a hearing. Chaffetz submitted a separate but aligned version of RAWA to the House of Representatives in February 2015, which currently sits with the House Judiciary Committee.

The official submission to the Senate details the objective of the bill as being “to restore long-standing United States policy that the Wire Act prohibits all forms of internet gambling”.

The Federal Wire Act of 1961 outlawed the use of wire communication facilities for the placing or paying out of bets on any sporting event or contest.

Graham and Rubio claim that the Obama administration overstepped its bounds in 2011 in issuing a Justice Department memo clarifying the government’s position that interstate gambling across “wire communications” that do not relate to sports betting fall outside the terms of the act.

According to the seven senators behind the submission, this reversed the interpretation that the Wire Act banned all forms of internet gambling.

In a statement, Graham said: “Now, because of this decision by the Obama Administration, virtually any cell phone or computer in South Carolina could become a video poker machine.

“A major rewrite of a long-standing federal law like this should be made by the people’s elected representatives in Congress, not done administratively.”

Executive director of the Poker Players Alliance John Pappas has accused the senators of cronyism, aimed at securing the financial backing of Sheldon Adelson.

“While the PPA has always encouraged a national discussion on the value of regulating online gambling, constructing a hearing at the behest of a political donor is an unfortunate waste of everyone’s time,” Pappas said.

“This bill should die today, so members of the Committee can focus on more pressing matters, and not on legislation that will deny states the ability to protect its citizens”.