Adelson's Internet Gambling Prohibition Not Included in Final Spending Bill
The internet gambling world can breathe a collective sigh of relief, as, after a couple days’ sweat, Sheldon Adelson‘s (pictured) pet project, Restoring America’s Wire Act, did not make it into the final Congressional spending bill. The $1.1 trillion budget measure was agreed to on Tuesday and language banning internet gambling was not included.
The bill weighed in at over 1,600 pages, according to the Associated Press, and is “salted with GOP policy proposals.” One of them, fortunately, is not the prohibition of internet gambling in the United States, including in the three states where the industry is regulated: New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
Poker Players AllianceVice President Rich TheEngineer Muny told PocketFives late Tuesday night, “It’s terrific that we prevailed against Adelson’s attempt to get RAWA attached to the cromnibus bill. I thank the poker community for standing strong and for blasting Capitol Hill with phone calls, e-mails, Facebook posts, Tweets, and personal visits. Without this, lawmakers may have thought they could get away with rewarding Adelson without it being publicized.”
Muny added, “This effort also helped us give support to supportive lawmakers and groups willing to step in and lend their support.”
The fight for internet gambling went down to the wire. On Monday, the Las Vegas Review-Journaldeemed the measure dead, but former Congressman Jon Porter later told listeners to Muny’s weekly webcast that the chances were 50-50 of RAWA being attached.
The same Nevada-based news source explained, “House leaders ‘weighed it and it’s unlikely they will do it in lame duck, but we don’t see Adelson stopping pushing this,’ said a lobbyist who asked not to be identified.” Therefore, we could be sweating an updated version of RAWA come January, when all bills not acted upon during the expiring Congressional session must be reintroduced in order to be considered.
You might recall that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which turned the internet gambling industry in the US on its head, was passed in the final minutes of the 2006 Congressional session after being attached to an unrelated port security measure. Unlike the UIGEA, RAWA was never discussed in committee and never voted on in any capacity.
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