Second try in as many months to persuade US Deputy AG to revisit 2011 Office of Legal Counsel opinion
The action group Poker Players Alliance has unearthed a new attempt by Republican congressional representatives to persuade the US Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, to revisit and overturn the important 2011 opinion by the DoJ’s Office of Legal Counsel that the 1961 Wire Act applies only to sports betting (see previous InfoPowa reports).
The December 19 letter, from Republican Representatives Dan Donovan of New York, Tom Garrett of Virginia, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and Louie Gohmert of Texas, reportedly bears a remarkable similarity in parts to a similar plea launched just a month earlier by well-known anti-online gambling Senator Graham Lindsey and Senator Dianne Feinstein (see previous InfoPowa report).
Industry observers studying the letters in detail have highlighted a number of misleading and frequently disproved allegations and claims made by the lawmakers in trying to persuade the Deputy AG to overturn the well-considered Office of Legal Counsel opinion, which finally clarified the purpose and application of the 1961 Wire Act and ultimately encouraged several states to reconsider their approach to online activity.
The letters appear to deliberately disregard the success of properly regulated and licensed online gambling in excluding under-aged, problem or criminal activity as evidenced by operations in US states like New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada, along with successful online lottery operations in several other states.
Some observers have speculated that the increased pressure on the administration to expunge the Office of Legal Counsel opinion is a sign that lawmakers who may be beholden to land casino mogul and anti-online gambling billionaire Sheldon Adelson are worried that the recent legalisation of online gambling in Pennsylvania may create so much momentum that their Restoration of the American Wire Act initiative will be overwhelmed.
Legalisation initiatives in Michigan and New York have also been making progress, and can only add to those worries.
The strategy behind the latest letter appears to be to try and stop individual states from offering online gambling or further legalisation moves whilst federal politicians work on a ban in the US Congress.
That is in itself another controversial attempt to ride roughshod over states’ rights to make laws concerning activities within their borders, and has always been fiercely opposed by many state lawmakers and constitutional action groups.