Sheldon Adelson Closer To Winning Online Gambling Battle
Image by getty images
The Justice Department offered a legal opinion that could further restrict online gambling — a move casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has been seeking, The Washington Post reported.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel suggested that it could reverse an Obama-era rule that the Wire Act applied only to sports gambling. The opinion will probably be brought up in court.
Most online gambling is already illegal, to the satisfaction of Adelson, a GOP megadonor who controls Las Vegas Sands Corporation, one of the world’s largest casino empires. But adding the Wire Act to these other laws, like the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, means the Justice Department can bring cases more against online gambling sites.
Former senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas said in a statement Monday that the original version of the Wire Act was “as problematic legally as it was morally.” He spoke on behalf of the Adelson-backed Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling.
According to federal lobbying records, Las Vegas Sands has paid Lincoln’s lobbying firm $210,000 since 2017.
“The change here will have some impact, but it doesn’t mean that large swaths of gambling that were once legal are now illegal and vice versa,” a Justice Department official with knowledge of the matter told the Post.
The official said the opinion was no discussed with Adelson or “any outside parties.”
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
