Sheldon Adelson’s attempt to move legislation to ban online gambling took a sharp blow at the recently held Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland where a survey found 90 percent of attendees oppose the move.
Nearly the same amount—about 88 percent—said they see Adelson’s Protect America’s Wire Act bill as cronyism.
Adelson has been pushing for the bill for more than two years, but even with high profile sponsors like Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio, the bill has gained little traction in Congress. The bill was written by lobbyists for Adelson, who has said online casino gambling would threaten brick-and-mortar casinos and attract underage gamblers. The bill would overturn state laws in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware, which allow online gambling. It would also affect online lottery sales in several states.
The Institute for Liberty conducted a survey of the attendees at the Congress. About 90 percent of respondents said they oppose efforts to ban state-regulated gambling. About the same number agreed that the legislation “is a violation of the Tenth Amendment and an example of crony capitalism.”
“Conservatives see RAWA for what it is—one of the worst forms of crony capitalism in Congress today,” said Andrew Langer, the President of the Institute for Liberty in a press release. “RAWA is nothing short of an effort by one of the richest men in the world to ban a form of competition for his brick and mortar casino empire – and everyone knows it. Worse yet, he is even willing to trample on the Constitution to do it.”
However, there has been concerns that RAWA—which has been reintroduced in Congress—could get a boost after new U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he may review a 2011 Department of Justice ruling that the current Wire Act did not prohibit intra-state online gambling. Still, Sessions has become a center of controversy in the new Trump administration and such a review is likely not to be a priority, analysts said.
In New Jersey, a new bill has been introduced in the state’s Senate urging Congress not to adopt RAWA. A similar bill was approved by the state’s Assembly.
