Online gambling ban unlikely to pass this year

It looks as if Sheldon Adelson’s Restoration of the American Wire Act has failed again this year as politicians shun the controversial online gambling ban and its political sponsors have been unsuccessful in attaching it to the must-pass Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, a huge omnibus federal spending bill for 2016.

In a reprise of last year’s failed tactics with a similar last-gasp attempt to drive RAWA through on the coat tails of another piece of legislation, the attachment of RAWA has reportedly been rejected, leaving Adelson’s measure languishing for this year despite much lobbying, media spin and two House hearings.

For two years running now RAWA supporters have tried to use the old political tactic of attachment to an unrelated bill with a better chance of success. It worked back in 2006 when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was rammed through a late night closing session of Congress attached to a must-pass ports security bill but is now something that opponents watch out for.

Given land casino magnate Adelson’s apparently unlimited funds and stubborn determination to kill off most forms of online gambling in the United States, it is almost certain that RAWA will be reintroduced next year, and the lobbying and political battle will resume.

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