Convenience store association widens attack on internet wagering

The National Association of Convenience Store Owners, which earlier this week wrote to its members urging them to support the Adelson-inspired Graham-Chaffetz legislative attempts to resurrect and strengthen the Wire Act (see previous  reports) has widened its opposition by backing a full public affairs campaign to persuade lawmakers in the US Congress to adopt the measure.

The Association’s vp for government relations, Lyle Beckwith, told the publication Politico Tuesday that his members are worried about lottery tickets being sold across state lines over the Internet.

“As a member of the convenience store industry I’m most concerned with the impact that the Department of Justice decision has had on the sale of lottery products,” Beckwith said.

“Lottery tickets should not be sold interstate on the Internet. Those sales risk letting kids buy them, letting people gamble in states that don’t want gambling, and pulling money and sales out of some states into others.

“If Congress does not act to pass this [Graham-Chaffetz] legislation, states will open the floodgates to Internet gambling and it will become difficult or impossible to turn it back.”

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