Inside Asian Gaming

February 2015 inside asian gaming 21 In Focus consultation last May, the framework “should serve as a guide for states considering enacting Internet gaming legislation and perhaps multi-jurisdictional initiatives,” said the council, which crafted it as part of its mission to advocate “a state’s right to choose what gaming is implemented within its boundaries”. The same month the NCLGS released its guidelines, the National Governors Association sent a letter to congressional leaders saying they were “concerned with legislation introduced in Congress that would ban online Internet gaming and Internet lottery sales. … The regulation of gaming is an issue that has historically been addressed by the states,” they said. “Regardless of whether governors are in favor of offering gaming—through whatever form—within their own states, decisions at the federal level that affect state regulatory authority should not be made unilaterally without state input.” The Democratic Governors Association also has come out against RAWA, although some Republican governors, notably Texas’ Rick Perry, a presidential hopeful, have expressed their support. Paradoxically, though, it is not the Democrats, but the very conservatives who have supplanted them, and Mr Reid, in setting the nation’s legislative priorities that pose the greatest obstacle to Mr Adelson crusade. This was made abundantly clear last November when RAWA failed to make it to the House floor for a vote. Two core principles of the Right butted heads—“family values” and “states’ rights”—and the outcome was a push. It was at that time, when the lame-duck Congress returned to work after the election and the lobbying surrounding RAWA got hot and heavy that the influential Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, weighed in, along with leaders of 10 like-minded advocacy groups, including the American Conservative Union, and penned a letter to lawmakers urging them to reject the proposed ban and “preserve” the states’ traditional authority over gambling policy. The states “don’t need the federal government babysitting them,” Mr Norquist said. The Casino Association of New Jersey, where Republican Gov. Chris Christie is considering a presidential run, also issued a statement declaring its opposition to RAWA, saying, “It would effectively undermine New Jersey’s successful regulation of Internet gambling that has been in place for a year now. CANJ is asking the N.J. congressional delegation to take all action to oppose the RAWA and preserve the state of New Jersey’s authorization and strict regulation of Internet gambling and the right of all states to determine whether or not they desire to allow or prohibit specific forms of gambling.” The Norquist letter didn’t refer to Mr Adelson specifically, but a strident online column by former Texas congressman Ron Paul, a libertarian hero and father of potential presidential candidate Rand Paul, did. In it he blasted RAWA as “crony capitalism” devised “for the benefit of one powerful billionaire”. In the end, the House Judiciary Committee, which had tentatively set a hearing on the bill for early December in hopes of sliding it through before Congress adjourned, called the hearing off. In January, a US District judge ruled in favor of Las Vegas Sands’ trademark infringement suit against the Chinese Web sites. If LVS can ever find them, they owe the company $2 million. The Norquist letter didn’t refer to Mr Adelson specifically, but a strident online column by former Texas congressman Ron Paul, a libertarian hero and father of potential presidential candidate Rand Paul, did. In it he blasted RAWA as “crony capitalism” devised “for the benefit of one powerful billionaire”.