Convenience store trade association to renew attack on online gambling at annual conference

The Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing, a US trade association representing the interests of convenience store owners, and historically a body opposed to online gambling and in particular internet sales of state lottery tickets, has announced that its annual Government Relations Conference kicks off in Washington, D.C. this week.

More than 130 industry stakeholders, including convenience retailers, state association representatives and NACS supplier members, will advocate on behalf of their businesses and the industry as a whole before members of Congress and their staffs.

Among the items on the agenda is online gaming and the perceived adverse impact of the 2011 Justice Department’s policy on the 1961 Wire Act, which the association believes opened the door for state lotteries to launch legal online activity.

The Association implores members of commerce to support the faltering Restoration of America’s Wire Act – a proposal currently mired at committee stage in Congress and widely believed to be the anti-competitive brainchild of land casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson.

Its statement on the issue reads: “In an effort to reverse the DOJ’s re-interpretation of the law, industry stakeholders are asking members of Congress to support the Restoration of America’s Wire Act in the House (H.R. 707) and Senate (S. 1668).

Convenience store owners feel threatened by the possibility of more state governments approving online state lottery activity because they claim that this takes customers away who normally buy other products when they visit the stores to purchase lottery tickets.