Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

In Congress, debate over banning online gaming moves forward

Chaffetz

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, left, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., walk together as Graham and other senators head to the floor at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2013.

Click to enlarge photo

Las Vegas Sands Corp. CEO Sheldon Adelson speaks at the Global Gaming Expo, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014, in Las Vegas.

In a choose-your-own-facts debate, a Sheldon Adelson-backed bill to ban online gaming got its first airing in Congress with a controversial hearing Wednesday.

Ban proponents, led by powerful members of Congress, argued that allowing online gaming to continue would degrade America's morality by proliferating gaming.

"Every home in America is potentially a casino," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat.

Opponents of the ban, which include several state lottery officials and representatives for almost every major casino except Adelson's Las Vegas Sands, say a ban would push online gambling further underground and contribute to a $3 billion illegal offshore online gaming industry.

"This [bill] is a love letter for Sheldon Adelson," Poker Players Alliance President John Pappas said.

The arguments are recycled from years of an ongoing debate about whether to ban online gaming or keep the status quo, which allows states to decide whether to legalize online gaming, with the exception of sports betting.

Three states — Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey — allow some form of online gambling, and as many as 10 are considering creating a framework to do so. In Nevada, only online poker is legal.

Wednesday's hearing in a House of Representatives Republican-led panel on crime is the first step this year to advance the bill introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, that would ban most forms of online gaming, including poker and possibly state lotteries.

Mega-Republican donor Adelson is the No. 1 champion for this legislation. He has said he'll spend "whatever it takes" to ban online gaming to protect Americans and has funded a sophisticated lobbying campaign to get his way.

Bills to ban online gaming were also introduced last Congress, and the issue seems to be gaining momentum this year as well. Chaffetz's bill, introduced in February, has 16 co-sponsors, which is more than it got all of last year. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and potential presidential candidate, is expected to release a Senate version of the legislation soon.

The American Gaming Association, the industry's largest trade group, has stayed mum on the topic. That's largely due to Adelson's influence, say insiders.

But as witnesses and lawmakers in the hearing compared gambling to crack cocaine and drugs, the AGA felt compelled to fire off emails touting brick and mortar casinos' community benefits.

"As casino entertainment has expanded in a safe and beneficial manner to countless communities across the United States over the last 20 years, tired stereotypes of public corruption and organized crime have been proven false," one read.

Pro-online gamers are trying to fight back without the support of AGA. The Poker Players Alliance and Caesars Entertainment hosted their own briefing Wednesday to highlight online gaming's sophisticated age and location technology, which they say will prevent gaming from spreading to states that don't want it.

"We have a zero-tolerance policy" said Marco Ceccarelli, the chief information officer for Caesars' online component.

Nevada's congressional delegation has stayed out of the political drama, though they have staked out positions allowing Nevada to continue providing poker online.

The next step in the bill is for a full Judiciary Committee hearing to debate its details. In the jockeying and trading that's to come, it's not clear if Nevadans will successfully carve out room for poker as the bill advances.

What is clear is that this debate isn't going away anytime soon.

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