More powerful names in the world of politics are joining the side of Sheldon Adelson in the fight against online poker. Texas Governor Rick Perry (pictured) and former Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln have taken up the cause rather vocally, lending their weight in the escalating struggle.

Lincoln, a Democrat, served in the Senate from 1999 to 2011 and founded the Lincoln Policy Group, a lobbying organization, in 2013. Her company has been hired by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, of which Adelson is the CEO, to further the cause of Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling. The Coalition claims that online gambling is “targeting the young, the poor, and the elderly where they live.Internet gambling takes gambling too far.”

Perry, known as a staunchly conservative governor, sent a letter to the heads of the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives on Monday urging them to roll back the Department of Justice’s 2011 clarification of the Wire Act of 1961. The Wire Act prohibits sports betting over phone lines and was for years interpreted by the DOJ to also shun gambling over the internet.

Just before Christmas 2011, however, the DOJ announced that it had changed its stance, declaring that the Wire Act only applies to online sports betting, not all gambling such as poker. That was the opening some states were looking for and is partly why Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware have legalized online gambling.

In his letter, Perry wrote, in part, “When gambling occurs in the virtual world, the ability of states to determine whether the activity should be available to its citizens and under what conditions – and to control the activity accordingly – is left subject to the vagaries of the technological marketplace. This seriously compromises the ability of states to control gambling within their borders.”

He added, “Additionally, I believe DOJ did not adequately account for all of the policy concerns surrounding the expansion of gaming to the internet. I think these policy concerns are for the US Congress and other law enforcement interests to study and analyze before internet gaming is unleashed on the states.”

Perry continued, “Allowing internet gaming to invade the homes of every American family, and be piped into our dens, our living rooms, our workplaces, and even our kids’ bedrooms and dorm rooms, is a major decision. We must carefully examine the short- and long-term social and economic consequences before internet gambling spreads.”

Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina, wrote an essentially identical letter to Congressional leaders. The letters come ahead of twin bills that aim to get Congress to reverse the Department of Justice’s 2011 Wire Act opinion. Utah Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz will introduce one, while South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham will push the other. Both will be introduced on Wednesday, according to reports. Chaffetz is pictured.

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