WATCH: Federal Lawmakers Discuss Online PokerHouse Committee To Discuss RAWA |
|
At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security will discuss H.R. 707, which is the anti-online poker bill dubbed the “Restoration of America’s Wire Act”, or “RAWA” for short.
Online poker players apparently are still linked to terrorism in the minds of some Republican Capitol Hill lawmakers.
Click on the image to find a link to the hearing.
The bill seeks to hurt the economies and put people out of work in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware by discontinuing their respective online gaming industries.
It would also prohibit additional states from using highly-regulated online gaming for tax revenue and to generate much-needed economic growth.
Many opponents of the bill also say that RAWA tramples on states’ rights and is just generally an anti-individual liberties proposal that contradicts America’s democratic principles. The bill is being pushed by billionaire casino boss Sheldon Adelson.
A list of witnesses was released this week. Scheduled to testify are John Kindt, professor at the University of Illinois’ School of Law, Les Bernal, National Director of the Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation, Mike Fagan, professor at Washington University’s School of Law, Andrew Moylan, Executive Director at R Street, and Parry Aftab, Executive Director at Wired Safety.
Testimony is expected to be largely biased against online poker.
The hearing was supposed to be held earlier this month, but it was postponed due to winter weather. The last online gaming hearing on Capitol Hill was in late 2013.
No vote on RAWA will happen today, but it’s possible one could come later this year.
If it does come up for a vote in Committee, it stands a good chance of moving forward.
“In my view, the House Judiciary Committee, given the voting history of its ranking Republican members on Internet gambling prohibition, is likely to approve RAWA, should the bill be taken up for a vote,” GamblingCompliance’s Chris Krafcik told Card Player.
However, it would likely die after getting out of Committee, according to Krafcik.
“Historical voting data shows that RAWA—or any other federal Internet gambling bill introduced in this congressional session, whether it be prohibitory or not—is facing very long odds indeed. According to our research and to figures from GovTrack.us, the enactment rate for Internet gambling bills introduced between 1995 and 2014 was approximately 2 percent, which is well below the approximate 3.7 percent enactment rate for all bills introduced during that 20-year period.”
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
