Prior to Trump taking office, a group of Republican attorneys general wrote a letter to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team urging the White House to reevaluate the content of the 1961 Wire Act. These attorneys general are hoping that if the Trump administration reviews the Wire Act again they will reinterpret it to include a federal ban on all forms of online gambling.
One of the most interesting signers of this petition is Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt. On the surface, it may seem surprising that the attorney general of a state that successfully regulates online gambling within its borders would be in favor of a federal ban on the entire industry. This would seem especially unusual given that Laxalt built his 2014 campaign platform around protecting personal freedoms and limiting the federal government’s reach into the private lives of its citizens.
The Agenda Behind the Letter
What will almost certainly be unsurprising to anyone following the industry news is that Sheldon Adelson seems to be the person behind the scenes pulling the strings of this stunt. Adelson is a powerful and well-known casino magnate in the Las Vegas area. He owns the popular land-based Venetian Casino Resort and the Las Vegas Sands, among other brick-and-mortar casino businesses, which means he is constantly lobbying to bring down the online gambling industry because he believes that it is hurting his profits.
This petition to reinterpret the Wire Act is just one more in a long, failed string of attempts by Adelson to get the government to rule in his favor on this issue. In 2014, he managed to skirt around the established campaign contribution limits by getting his wife, daughter and three of his corporations to contribute the maximum amount of funds for a grand total of $55,000 in contributions to the current attorney general’s election campaign, presumably with the intent to persuade him to spearhead this endeavor.
The Content and the Opposition
It’s unclear right now whether or not the Trump administration will pay any heed to this latest attempt on a nationwide online gambling ban by certain factions of the Republican party. Similar attempts, such as the Restore America’s Wire Act (RAWA), in the past have gained little to no traction in the House or Senate. There are also those who think that if Trump’s administration gives this petition any weight, he will be breaking his campaign promise to eliminate crony capitalism and “drain the swamp.”
The letter contained most, if not all, of the usual fear-mongering talking points like underage gambling, addiction, terrorist money laundering and a lack of consumer protections, all of which have essentially no actual facts backing them up.
The following is an excerpt from this letter: “In the dark of night on Christmas 2011, the Obama administration overruled 50 years of practice and precedent when a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion claimed the Wire Act applied only to sports betting, and not to other types of online gambling.”
Some might think that sounds a bit dramatic or ridiculous, and there are plenty of politicians on the other side of the issue who would agree. Democratic representative Dina Titus wrote her own letter to Pence and his team, in which she argues that the Republican letter contains inaccurate and misleading information. She cites the fact that there have been no reported incidents of minors playing poker online as an example, and goes on to say that the letter fails to distinguish between reputable, regulated online gambling and illegal offshore sites.
Several politicians are criticizing Laxalt for making such an obviously shady move, especially one that goes against his most important campaign values.
It remains to be seen whether or not anything will come of this letter, but it has the potential to set a dangerous precedent. The recent efforts to bring the GAME Act forward could indicate that the political climate surrounding gambling is warming up.