South Carolina senator to take another run at an online gambling ban

Reports from US online media this week indicate that South Carolina Senator and Republican Party beneficiary of land casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Sen. Lindsey Graham is about to adopt another approach in his protracted and so far unsuccessful war against online gambling.

The persistent senator reportedly plans to use the Congressional confirmation hearings to select a US Attorney General as the new battleground, where he will pepper the prospective appointee William Barr with questions regarding his views of the Justice Department’s 2011 ruling on the antiquated Wire Act and its application to sports betting alone.

In his efforts to roll back time and events (several US states have since successfully asserted their rights to implement their own online gambling laws for enforcement within state borders) Lindsey has proved to be a dogged opponent, persistently pushing the well-funded Adelson agenda that has so far unsuccessfully used a number of different strategies to impose a federal ban on what is clearly a very popular pastime.

Graham, who was elected to office in 2003 attracted very little attention from the industry until 2014 when he suddenly surfaced as a major ally of Adelson in pushing forward online gambling banning bills, including attempts to reinstate the discredited Wire Act.

Over the last four years he has used every opportunity to press for federal bans, although it has to be said that he has thus far appeared to take a neutral stance on online sports betting following the US Supreme Court decision earlier this year which gave states the right to choose whether to legalise sports betting within their borders or not.

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