Attempt to introduce US egaming ban suffers setback
Congress omits Sheldon Adelson-backed legislation to restore federal Wire Act from one of the year's final bills signed into law
Attempts to introduce a federal egaming ban in the US through the restoration of the Wire Act appear to have been quashed for the year.
Momentum for the ban, which would block operators from offering online gaming in the country, including in the three states where it is already legal, has come from billionaire land-based gaming mogul Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson had hoped the bill he backed would be passed by Congress in the dying weeks of the 2014 legislative session by being attached to must-pass financial legislation.
But according to local news sources, the 1603-page legislative document, which was unveiled by Congress yesterday, provided no mention of online gaming or the restoration of the Wire Act.
The Adelson-backed bill was introduced to Congress in March by South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham and Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz and seeks to to restore the Wire Act, which introduced a federal egaming ban 1961 but was revised in 2011 to enable online gaming to be legalised on a state-by-state basis.
The bill garnered support and opposition in equal measure, but failed to gain much traction in Congress while individual states such as California and Pennsylvania pushed forward with egaming legislation.
But following recent government elections, Adelson’s lobbyists went into overdrive in a bid to get the bill passed in the final few weeks of Congress.
The pro-egaming lobby, which included online operators such as Caesars Interactive, returned fire with VP of government affairs Jan Jones-Blackhurst revealing her pleasure at the outcome.
“We believe that banning internet gaming is bad public policy from our perspective,” Jones-Blackhurst told the Las Vegas News Journal.
“We’re pleased this issue will be discussed openly and not hidden in some omnibus bill,” she added.
The threat of a federal egaming ban still lingers with Adelson likely to continue his efforts in 2015 having declared he will “spend whatever it takes” to ensure Americans can’t gamble online.