The world of politics is funny. You never know who is going to get in bed with whom or what is finally going to spark momentum on an issue. It took years for online poker’s proponents to make any sort of headway in legislative circles and we still have not made THAT large of a dent. Oddly enough, though, a bill that seemed like a potentially horrible thing for online poker five months ago has actually served to unite people behind the common cause of fighting it.
This is not to say that the Restoration of America’s Wire Act will not eventually win the day (I don’t think it will, but I suppose it has a chance) and it is also not to say that anyone against it is for online poker, but it has been interesting how many people and organizations have spoken out, lambasting the Sheldon Adelson-backed legislation. The latest to lend his support to the pro-poker side is Kevin Carroll, the President of the Fraternal Order of Police of Virginia.
Now, Mr. Carroll might not be very high up on the national politics clout meter, but it certainly says something that someone in a position of authority in law enforcement would make a public statement denouncing the bill that would roll back a 2011 Department of Justice (DoJ) clarification of the Wire Act that said it only outlawed online sports betting, not other forms of gambling like poker. Carroll expressed his thoughts in a letter to the editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, published over the weekend.
He begins:
Virginia is the birthplace of our nation. America’s Founding Fathers are our Founding Fathers. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Patrick Henry all knew that while the federal government had a strong role to play, so too did each state. There is no stronger example of a highly functioning, model state than the Old Dominion.
That is why it is so perplexing that any Virginian would allow Congress to step on Virginia’s right to regulate online gaming. As a Virginian and a law enforcement officer, this is a recipe for disaster.
He continues by saying that Virginia has done an excellent job running its lottery and that it does not make sense that anyone in Congress would even consider taking the online gambling decision making out of his state’s hands. He said that should the Restoration of America’s Wire Act gain further support and become law, it would be a strike at Virginia’s “autonomy,” force players to use more risky overseas sites, and deprive Virginia of potential revenues needed for schools and law enforcement.
“As a law enforcement officer, I am faced with crime and criminals every day,” Carroll added. “We need to do everything we can to shut unregulated sites, not give them more opportunities to thrive. Taking online gaming away from the states will do just that.”
There has not been much action lately on the Restoration of America’s Wire Act, introduced in the Senate in March by Senator Lindsey Graham (R – SC) and in the House of Representatives by Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R – Utah). The Wire Act of 1961 had long been interpreted by the DoJ to ban any form of online gambling, even though it was clearly worded and meant to only forbid sports betting. At the end of 2011, as mentioned, the DoJ clarified its position, stating the Wire Act only made sports betting on the internet illegal. This, in turn, opened the doors for states to regulated and legalize online gambling within their own borders and to date, New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada have all done so.
This enraged Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, who, with his bottomless wallet, is online poker’s strongest opponent. He and his people were the ones who crafted the Restoration of America’s Wire Act which, if passed, would negate all online gambling in the country, even that which has been legalized by individual states.