According to the Poker Players Alliance, a hearing in the House Oversight Committee about the Sheldon Adelson-backed Restoring America’s Wire Act, or RAWA, is on tap for December 9. However, the hearing has not been officially announced on the committee’s website. RAWA would ban internet gambling in the United States, including in the three states where it’s already regulated: New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.

Utah Congressman and Adelson minion Jason Chaffetz (pictured) is the Chairman of the committee and, according to the PPA, “The on again, off again iGaming hearing in Congress is now on again. OGR Comm chaired by Chaffetz expected to push RAWA on December 9th.” The PPA followed that Tweet up with, “Anti-Internet #poker congressman to hold RAWA hearing in his Committee on 12/09. Will need everyone to make their voice heard #nopokerban.”

Adelson has pledged to spend “whatever it takes” to ban iGaming in the United States despite being the center of a graft controversy and having a political watchdog group accuse the Las Vegas Sands CEO of funneling money from organized crime into the political system. Sands casinos include the Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas and Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. This author would discourage any poker player from stepping foot in any of those properties.

In the House, RAWA is numbered HR 707 and has 24 cosponsors. Consequently, players who are in any of these districts should contact their Representative ahead of the December 9 hearing:

Rep. Gabbard, Tulsi [D-HI-2]
Rep. Smith, Lamar [R-TX-21]
Rep. Franks, Trent [R-AZ-8]
Rep. King, Steve [R-IA-4]
Rep. Dent, Charles W. [R-PA-15]
Rep. Holding, George [R-NC-13]
Rep. Forbes, J. Randy [R-VA-4]
Rep. Gowdy, Trey [R-SC-4]
Rep. Wilson, Joe [R-SC-2]
Rep. Gohmert, Louie [R-TX-1]
Rep. Pierluisi, Pedro R. [D-PR-At Large]
Rep. Bishop, Rob [R-UT-1]
Rep. Love, Mia B. [R-UT-4]
Rep. Ashford, Brad [D-NE-2]
Rep. Hartzler, Vicky [R-MO-4]
Rep. Ross, Dennis A. [R-FL-15]
Rep. Jones, Walter B., Jr. [R-NC-3]
Rep. Bridenstine, Jim [R-OK-1]
Rep. Salmon, Matt [R-AZ-5]
Rep. Webster, Daniel [R-FL-10]
Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6]
Rep. Palazzo, Steven M. [R-MS-4]
Rep. Nugent, Richard B. [R-FL-11]
Rep. Harper, Gregg [R-MS-3]

Chaffetz formerly was in the running for Speaker of the House, but that position ended up going to Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

According to Online Poker Report, “Another hearing will provide another chance for temperature-taking on the willingness of legislators to impose an online gambling ban. The possibility of a ‘moratorium’ on online gambling that would leave in place iGaming regulation that already exists might also be on the table.” RAWA’s backer, Adelson, is pictured.

The most recent hearing about RAWA took place in March and largely consisted of fear-mongering from uninformed, unqualified witnesses. Not a single regulator or technical expert was on-hand for the debacle.

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