Inside Asian Gaming

January 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 43 advocates, like Barney Frank (D.-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R.-Tx.), have had some of the wind knocked out of their sails. Since states are now clearly free to legalise intra-state online poker, and perhaps even interstate, there is not much reason to even bother with a federal law. It might be a good idea to have one unified law. But the success of all the gambling now licensed or operated solely by states and tribes, shows consistency is not essential. Only the major operators, like Caesars Entertainment, need an overriding federal law, because they don’t want to be competing with politically connected local gaming companies for limited numbers of licenses in 50 states. Opponents, like Jon Kyl (R.-AZ) and Frank Wolf (R.-VA), might get some leverage for their attempts to expand the Wire Act to cover all forms of gambling. But, as I have pointed out (to the ire of some who have given money to politicians and lobbyists), Congress has passed literally no substantive laws since the Republicans took over the House of Representatives in January 2011. There is as little chance of this Congress passing a new prohibition as there is of it passing a repeal of the UIGEA. So, while Congress continues to do nothing, Internet gambling is about to explode across the nation, made legal under state laws. In 1962, there were no legal state lotteries in the US. It took more than 40 years before almost all the states made lotteries legal. Internet years are like “dog years.” Developments now happen so fast, that it won’t take four decades before Internet gambling is legal in almost every state. © 2012, I. Nelson Rose. Prof. Rose is recognisedasoneoftheworld’sleadingexperts on gambling law, and is a consultant and expert witness for governments, industry and players. His latest books, INTERNET GAMING LAW (1st and 2nd editions), BLACKJACK AND THE LAW and GAMING LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS, are available through his website, www.GAMBLINGANDTHELAW.com . Gambling and the Law ® The inexorable march—Internet gambling, like the technology that underlies it, is set for explosive growth