Though He Sits on the Internet Committee, Lindsey Graham Said He’s Never Used Email
Proponents of online gambling plan a gaming technology demonstration during the US House Judiciary Committee meeting on the Restore America’s Wire Act bill. Also, the meeting has been shifted back one day, to March 25, according to the Judiciary Committee’s official calendar.
The time of the meeting will be 4pm on the 25th. Changes could still happen, because the meeting alternately has been announced to be taking place on the 24th and the 26th.
Shifting Times for Subcommittee Hearings
The meeting, which is set to take place in a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee associated with crime and terrorism, was slated originally for March 5, but the blizzard on the east coast caused the postponement. Opponents of the RAWA legislation are planning a technological demonstration of the geolocation software used to locate gamblers in New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
Geolocation Technology
The technology demonstration is meant to debunk the scare-tactics used by Representative Jason Chaffetz and other proponents of the anti-gambling legislation, who claim that licensed online gambling in New Jersey impinges on the rights of anti-gambling states like Utah and South Carolina to police gaming inside their state. Geolocation software similar to the GPS systems on people’s cars is used to assure gambling only takes place in New Jersey, instead of other US states (or anywhere else).
When Lindsey Graham first introduced Restore America’s Wire Act to the U.S. Senate, he claimed that New Jersey’s licensed and regulated online casinos made South Carolina’s attempts to ban online gambling impossible. Graham claimed that anyone with a cellphone could break South Carolina’s strict gaming laws, because South Carolinians could register and play on the New Jersey sites. That simply is not the case, though opponents of RAWA believe the lawmakers supporters the online gambling ban willfully spread lies and misinformation.
Lindsey Graham’s Gaffs
In fact, Sen. Lindsey Graham has had several gaffs which indicate he might not know the difference in regulated and unregulated casino websites. While that would seem to be incredible to Internet-savvy Americans, Lindsey Graham recently said on “Meet The Press” he had never logged onto a computer or used email. With that in mind, it is possible that Sen. Graham is not familiar with geolocation software or the intricacies of mobile gaming platforms.
Of course, residents of South Carolina could still find unregulated offshore casinos where they could gamble illegally. The idea behind regulated casinos in New Jersey and other states is to offer Americans a choice, so they can legally gamble online in a safer, regulated environment. Allowing US players to play at online casinos licensed in their own state also would dispel concerns about online gambling funding terrorist networks, as Lindsey Graham discussed in Loretta Lynch’s Attorney General confirmation hearings in the Senate. Of course, Graham asked questions about unregulated casinos–not the Jersey gaming sites he seems to oppose.
How Does Technology Ensure Online Gaming Compliance?
The demonstration by pro-online gambling is called “How Does Technology Ensure Online Gaming Compliance?“, which is designed for members of the House Judiciary Committee to attend. Those who attend will find most of their fears dispelled about the gambling industry’s ability to bar out-of-state gamblers from playing illegally on regulated sites.
Earlier in the day, at 10am in the Hall of States room in the John F. Kennedy Center, a demonstration of the same technology will take place. That demonstration is meant for the American public, though officials not on the Judiciary Committee might attend.
Anna Sainsbury to Talk
One of the presenters that day will be GeoComply CEO Anna Sainsbury. GeoComply is one of the leading software companies in the geolocation business, so she is a known expert on the New Jersey rollout and the software used to assure compliance.
Another presenter is a Caesars Interactive official yet to be named. Caesars Interactive, the online division of Caesars Entertainment, was involved in the online gaming rollouts in New Jersey and Nevada.
John Pappas Article in Rollcall
Poker Players Alliance spokeman John Pappas recently wrote an op-ed piece for Rollcall, a Washington legislative publication. In the article, Pappas called into question the faulty logic of the anti-online gambling lawmakers, though he never mentioned their chief backer, Sheldon Adelson of the Las Vegas Sands.
John Pappas’s piece focused on the 1961 Wire Act, which was written to stop betting on sporting events over the telephone lines. Pappas pointed out the irony of the bill’s name “Restore America’s Wire Act”. Jason Chaffetz and Lindsey Graham gave the bill that name, as if to imply they were restoring the Wire Act’s ability to police the Internet. The Wire Act was written several decades before the Internet’s inception, so any provisions which include online gambling would be a vast expansion of the power of the federal government, attaching to the outdated Wire Act intent its original framers never considered.
Hearings Might Be a Set-Up
The meeting next week before the Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee is expected to be a sham, in which 3 of the 4 announced speakers will be known opponents of online gambling. At least one of those is known to have given spurious comments based on poor statistical data on the online gambling in the based.
