Legislators are Supporting Online Gambling at RAWA Hearing

Advocates of law enforcement and child advocates all over the country continue to voice their opposition to a nationwide ban on online gaming. For the simple reason, it would do nothing towards curbing illegal activities on the Internet, to protect consumers, or to prevent children from gambling online, said spokeswoman, Kristen Hawn.

Although many involved in the online poker industry were anxious about the recent Congressional hearing titled "A Casino in Every Smartphone-Law Enforcement Implications" and that it would push the RAWA agenda, it seems to have done the opposite.

Earlier in the year, Mr. Chaffetz introduced a bill that could reverse a 2011 memo introduced by the U.S. Department of Justice. That memo declared that the 1961 Wire Act, which deals with wagers, applied only to sports betting and not to poker and casino-style gambling. Mr. Chaffetz, together with a small number of colleagues, think that the opinion needed to be reversed through Federal legislation.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) asked if logic applied to RAWA, that it's difficult to enforce laws against gambling in one state if another allowed it. He said that many residents of the states banning online gambling would be able to order online from vendors that were located in the state. However, he did fail to address specific issues with the regulated online casinos.

Mr. Chaffetz did find support from the South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and the Douglas County (Nebraska) Attorney Donald Kleine. However, at the hearing their arguments were ripped to shreds by the committee members on both sides of the aisle. Mr. Chaffetz found that many of the committee members did not have any problems with the status quo of the three states (New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware) enacting regulations for online gambling. Various others also offer lottery ticket sales online.

Towards the end of the discussions, even the RAWA-friendly witnesses, namely Wilson and Kleine, had to admit that they had no real problem with intrastate online gambling should it be truly contained to individual states.

The strongest case for the legalization and regulation of in-state online gambling, without the violation of the rights of other states that might choose to prohibit it, was made by the former New Jersey General who is also an Assembly member and Congresswoman, Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ). She voted in favor of in-state online gambling in New Jersey as a state legislator.

Mr. Lipparelli testified that from the regulatory and the law enforcement perspective, the three legalized states—Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware—have proven to be successful. He continued that if anyone were going to attempt to launder money, then a legalized and regulated site would be the last place that they would try to do that.

He also expressed concern about unlicensed online gaming, which he agreed was within "the spirit" of the banning legislation. He also said that the expansion of online gambling in the Keystone State was towards the positive and that he was confident that the work of the Nevada gaming regulators was to ensure the quality of Nevada gaming licensees. The testimonies made it very clear that Nevada is very careful and works effectively to regulate gaming.