Senator Cotton Files New Anti-iGaming Bill S.3376

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Wednesday, October 19th, 2016 | Written by Stephen Smith

After previous attempts to reinstate the Wire Act failed to make any headway in the United States Congress, online poker fans had hoped that they would no longer have to worry about a nationwide ban on the game. But it now seems that The Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) is getting its second wind, despite there being no significant indication that there’s any widespread interest in the legislation.

Senator Cotton Files S.3376

On September 21st, Senator Tom Cotton introduced a bill numbered S.3376 that is incredibly similar to RAWA, with the bill having been read before being passed onto the Committee on the Judiciary for further review. At this time, the full contents of the bill is not available for reading online, although an extract from its short text reads that its aims is:

“To ensure the integrity of laws enacted to prevent the use of financial instruments for funding or operating online casinos are not undermined by legal opinions not carrying the force of law issued by Federal Government lawyers.”

Delving further into S.3376, the bill appears to support bringing back and strengthening the Wire Act to allow it to apply to modern commerce online. Initially, the Wire Act was used to prevent betting and wagering being conducted by wire, but in 2011 the Department of Justice declared that the Wire Act only applied to sports betting and that states could still legalize other forms of online gambling at their own discretion. From the sounds of it, this bill would close that loophole and make the online iGaming laws of Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware illegal.

In addition, the bill is said to restrict betting and wagering through all online channels and would make it illegal for any state to legalize online poker or casino games in the future.

Sheldon Adelson Strikes Again

Back in 2015 and earlier this year, the House of Representatives attempted to push through what seemed to be a very similar piece of legislation but were unable to get enough support to pass it. Senator Lindsey Graham also tried to attach similar language to the Senate Appropriations bill, but none of these attempts to introduce restrictions on online poker have been successful. Therefore, you may find yourself wondering why legislators keep trying to make a ban on iGaming a reality.

The answer lies in one, very powerful man–Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. The octogenarian has made it his very public mission to see that online poker is banned in the United States, and has claimed that iGambling will only encourage minors to gamble and encourage criminal activities and money laundering. Adelson has subsequently come under fire for these comments as there is not only no evidence to support this, but his own brick and mortar casinos have been also fined for these types of infractions.

Although he has been widely criticized, Adelson has continued with his anti-online gambling crusade, and each year he gives plenty of money to members of Congress to have his interests represented. While it’s likely that this new piece of legislation will not make it any further than previous attempts at restricting the freedom of states to legalize online poker, readers are encouraged to contact their Senators and let them know that they do not support RAWA.

Busy Time Ahead for PPA

The Poker Players Alliance certainly has a busy time ahead in October, as in addition to ensuring S.3376 is struck down, the organization has also been throwing its support behind Pennsylvania’s efforts to pass iGaming legislation of its own. Unfortunately, the Keystone State’s winter legal session has a very short time to run before all activities finish for the year. This naturally puts some significant constraints on the whole process, which requires first the Senate and then the House to pass the bill before Governor Tom Wolf can sign it into law. In the meantime, the PPA has called on the poker community to support Pennsylvania’s drive towards legalized iPoker, and as a statement by the organization explains:

“We are encouraging poker players, enthusiasts, and supporters nationwide to tell the PA Senate to pass online poker licensing now. We want the PA Senate to take action in general, but we specifically want them to pass this in 2016 and not kick the can down the road into 2017. The PPA has made this easy. Simply visit the PPA website at ThePPA.org/PA-alert/ to take action via social media to ensure lawmakers know the people want this important legislation to pass.”