A senior UK politician says social Facebook games available on the social network could lead children to become problem gamblers when they become older. Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, told the Guardian newspaper that minors are bring targeted with games that normalise behaviours associated with gambling. Watson was referring to a report in the Guardian which said gambling-style apps which target young people are being offered on Facebook without any checks on age. The report focussed on social games created by Scientific Games that features characters from The Flintstones and Rapunzel as well as Christmas-themed slots. While a disclaimer says…

My grandparents love the penny slots. When we would make the yearly multi-generational trip to the casino (my brother and I, my parents, and my grandparents) they would b-line straight for the penny games. I thought they were crazy. My brother and I would laugh at them and head over to the tables, my mom would head to the quarter games, and my dad would hit-up the bar. We would all have some fun, win or lose a little, and meet back up at the end of the night. My grandparents, somehow, always walked out with more money then us….

It happened again. Several members of Congress collectively penned a letter to the US Department of Justice to ask that the 2011 Wire Act decision be overturned. This move would effectively prohibit states from offering online poker and casino games while giving Congress a chance to ban online gaming. This action was just discovered by the Poker Players Alliance but happened on December 19. And if it sounds familiar, it is due to a very similar letter was sent on November 21 by different members of Congress. While US legislators are tasked with handling major issues like taxes, infrastructure, health…

This Week in Gambling is publishing this story because we believe there are several similarities between the legal marijuana industry and online gambling, from public perception to the way the federal government approaches them. The topics are also “states rights” issues, so watching how the Department of Justice approaches states who choose to regulate marijuana may give us some insight into how they may target states with legalized online gambling. There are a whole lot of reasons to be mad at Attorney General Jeff Sessions for pushing federal prosecutors – against all logic and reason – to crack down on…

New York Net Neutrality may not be dead yet. The repeal of net neutrality rules may allow Internet service providers and mobile carriers to block or throttle services at will, reserving the fastest bandwidth for companies who pay the toll, but the law may not be the only way to keep companies in line … However, New York is one of several states which plans to enact their own statewide net neutrality laws, which would make it illegal for ISPs or carriers to introduce a two-speed Internet. Whether they will succeed remains to be seen, as the FCC actually now…

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that he would file a net neutrality lawsuit, becoming the latest state attorney general to announce a challenge to the repeal. His announcement comes shortly after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), led by Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, voted Thursday to roll back the Obama-era rules in a 3-2 vote down party lines. Ferguson positioned his suit as an attempt to thwart the Trump administration’s moves to roll back regulations across the government. “We are the 5-0 against the Trump Administration because they often fail to follow the law when taking executive action,”…

The top U.S. Senate Democrat said on Friday he would force a vote on the Federal Communications Commission’s decision on the landmark net neutrality repeal, but the move was unlikely to block a ruling that could reshape the digital landscape. The FCC voted Thursday along party lines to reverse the Obama era rules barring internet service providers from blocking or throttling internet traffic, or offering paid fast lanes. A group of state attorneys general vowed to sue. On Friday, Senator Charles Schumer of New York said he would force a vote on the FCC action under the Congressional Review Act….

A Michigan online gambling bill that advanced on Wednesday now has a sports betting provision in it. Lawmakers in the state advanced Rep. Brandt Iden’s bill that would legalize online casinos and poker in the state. The bill was approved in a hearing by the House Regulatory Reform Committee, which Iden chairs. The most recent version of H 4926 contains new language regarding online sports wagering. The potential for sports wagering is becoming real for states like Michigan, as New Jersey is challenging the ban on single-game wagering in the US Supreme Court. A win for the state in the…