Congress Discusses Fledgling Online Poker IndustryRAWA Discussed, But There Wasn't A Vote On The Bill |
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A Wednesday hearing on Capitol Hill to discuss a bill that would ban regulated online poker nationwide was mostly unfavorable to the virtual version of the card game, but that probably didn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
In the first hearing on RAWA since March, the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee was home to the discussion on the fledgling industry. Rep. John Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of the Committee, is the sponsor of the bill to “restore” the 1961 Wire Act. The decades-old law was re-interpreted by the Obama Department of Justice in December 2011 to allow for intra-state online gaming.
Chaffetz, along with a small number of his colleagues, think the opinion needs to be reversed through federal legislation. Opponents harshly criticize the bill for being against states’ rights.
The first witness to speak at the hearing was Joseph Campbell, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. He said that online gambling “can have connections to other kinds of criminal activity,” adding that online casinos are “especially susceptible” to money laundering. However, he later failed to address any specific issues with regulated online casinos.
FBI witness confirms that there have been no problems that he is aware of with US regulated online gaming. I think we win.
— PokerPlayersAlliance (@ppapoker) December 9, 2015
Alan Wilson, the Attorney General of South Carolina, testified later that the Wire Act should be restored so online gambling doesn’t flow into states that prohibit gambling. He said that the DOJ opinion basically made South Carolina into a “virtual casino.”
“The Internet is inherently inter-state,” Wilson said critically of the age and geo-location protections that he thinks are “subject to being compromised.”
However, there have been no geo-location or age verification failures in Nevada, New Jersey or Delaware, the only three states where online casino games are legal and regulated.
Wilson is one of eight state attorney generals in support of RAWA.
After some similar testimony from Donald Kleine, a county attorney from Nebraska, former Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Mark Lipparelli finally gave the hearing some pro-regulated online poker testimony.
“Concrete knowledge that should replace speculation,” Lipparelli said of where the regulated Internet betting debate should be at in 2015. He eventually told members of Congress that a regulated online casino “would be the last place you’d go to launder money.”
“I would not leave this subject without reference to the bigger policy challenge,” Lipparelli said of the unregulated online gaming market still around in the U.S.
Lipparelli was one of Nevada’s top gaming regulators when the state adopted regulations for online poker. The now Nevada State Senator is one of the biggest supporters of regulated I-gaming.
While there were a significant amount of anti-online gaming comments from lawmakers, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) did make it clear that her state has been extremely successful regulating online gaming since 2013. She said that there has been “no increase in law enforcement challenges” compared to brick-and-mortar Atlantic City gaming.
“New Jersey has set a model to protect its citizens,” she said.
Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) also chimed in, speaking very highly of Nevada’s gaming regulations and the ability to geo-fence online gaming sites. Titus chastised the FBI witness for not providing any specifics on the claim that regulated online gaming is a law enforcement problem. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) added to the push back against earlier testimony in the hearing by saying that online gambling is actually good for law enforcement because of the identify verification in place.
Chaffetz closed the three-hour long hearing by calling RAWA “an important topic,” and he thanked everyone for giving testimony. No vote was held on his bill.
The later stages of the hearing did feature a lot more remarks critical of RAWA, which Chaffetz tried to water down in his closing remarks. The PPA said as the hearing concluded:
Once again ppa and poker players turn a potentially bad hearing into a clear victory for #poker rights!
— PokerPlayersAlliance (@ppapoker) December 9, 2015
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