New congressional investigation report makes no mention of online gambling at all
One of the key talking points used over the last few years by the Sheldon Adelson-funded Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling has been the totally unfounded claim that the FBI have associated online gambling with terrorist funding.
The claim is pure PR spin and scare, and was based on a hypothetical question from Congress referred to the FBI some time ago querying whether online gambling posed any potential money laundering threats.
The FBI's response referred in a general sense mainly to the issue of money laundering…and it concluded that what threats there are were preventable and could be detected and defeated by online casino operators applying the right systems.
See a copy of the FBI response here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1AgyozaET8BbEJzZTFSeGVSZXM/edit
It did not focus on terrorist funding through online casinos, but that did not stop opponents of the industry from spinning the 2013 response into a terrorist threat talking point and element in their anti-online gambling advertising and publicity campaigns.
This sort of misinformation has been frequently countered by the industry, but this week a Congressional report surfaced which further debunked the opposition's spin.
Titled "Stopping Terror Finance: Securing The US Financial Sector", the report follows a two-year intensive Congressional investigation led by anti-online gambling politician and soon-to-retire Representative Michael Fitzpatrick, and makes no mention at all of online gambling as a threat and vehicle for terrorist funding.
Not only was there no reference to online gambling in the 200-page report – it did not make any recommendations to ban the pastime or resurrect the Wire Act.
This despite the fact that the report deals with Internet related threat areas such as peer-to-peer sales websites and online auction sites, commenting:
"In recent years, the growing use of the Internet, through peer-to-peer sales websites, online auctions, and social media platforms has complicated law enforcement efforts to thwart the smuggling and sale of cultural artefacts."
The social media references are mainly concerned with the use of the medium as a recruiting, fund raising and propaganda platform for extreme factions like Islamic State.
Poker Players Alliance executive director John Pappas has responded to the report by noting that it is a comprehensive and factual examination of potential terrorism financing threats and the laws needed to combat them.
"Not surprisingly, internet gaming and RAWA are nowhere to be found in this report," Pappas observed. "Despite the exaggerated and often reckless claims of our opponents, the fact is, regulated internet gaming is not a conduit for money laundering, terrorism, or any other illegal activity. In fact, attempting to engage in such activities on a regulated iGaming website would be perhaps one of the dumbest moves a criminal could make. Criminals and terrorists are smart enough to avoid iGaming's transparent and auditable safeguards. I only wish iGaming opponents were smart enough to stop their fear mongering."
Online Casino News Courtesy of Infopowa
