The Hill – Casino magnate and GOP super-donor Sheldon Adelson has won some powerful new allies in his quest to ban Internet gambling. At least 10 state attorneys general have signed onto a letter to congressional leaders and the House and Senate Judiciary committees asking Congress to keep online gaming illegal, according to people familiar with the lobbying effort.
“Online gambling exacerbates problems associated with gambling addiction and we’re proud to be working with a number of other states to address the issue,” reads the letter from the state officials.
Their lobbying effort bolsters Aldeson, who is dipping into his casino fortune to stop online gambling on the grounds that the sites would be harmful to young people and create addictive behavior.
“Look, I’m a father, grandfather. I do not want my children — I’m a veteran of the Korean War. I do not want my children to have the opportunity to become addicted to gaming. And poker, in my opinion, would become one of the most addictive games,” Adelson told Bloomberg last summer.
Three states — Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware — legalized online gambling after 2011, when the Justice Department ruled that the anti-fraud Wire Act only prohibits online sports betting, and not other types of online gambling.
The group of state officials — led by the Attorneys General from Missouri, Chris Koster (D), Nebraska, Jon Bruning (R), and South Carolina, Alan Wilson (R) — want lawmakers to stop the gambling movement by clarifying the anti-fraud law.
“Given the inherently interstate nature of Internet gambling transactions, we anticipate that it will become increasingly difficult to effectively regulate such conduct as additional jurisdictions consider legalizing Internet gambling.”
The state attorneys general are an important constituency for casinos. As the top law enforcement official in each state, they would be responsible for enforcing any online gaming rules. The officials appear to have signed onto a letter that Adelson’s casino company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., presented last year during a presentation to the Republican Attorneys General Association.
