Another threat may be looming for online gambling in the US as an iGaming opponent has been nominated as Attorney General by President-elect Donald Trump. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions said during a Tuesday confirmation hearing that he did not agree with a previous interpretation of America’s Federal Wire Act and that he was planning to revisit it.
In 2011, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) ruled that the above-mentioned act, which came into effect back in 1961, was mainly concerned with the nationwide prohibition of sports betting and that the legalization of online gambling should be left to states. Under previous interpretations of the act, all forms of remote gambling were prohibited.
During the Tuesday hearing, Sen Sessions was asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham about his opinion on the 2011 reversal of the law. Here it is important to note that Sen. Graham himself has long been a staunch online gambling opponent. Sen. Sessions replied to his fellow-lawmaker’s question by saying that he opposed the 2011 ruling of the Department of Justice and that now as a head of the department he would revisit it or make a decision in that relation after careful study was carried out.
Sen. Sessions’ nomination may be really bad news for online gambling and its progress in the US, although it is yet too early to panic about the potential implementation of RAWA (Restoration of America’s Wire Act), a piece of legislation, word of which has been circling around over the past several years.
The 2011 DoJ interpretation of the Federal Wire Act laid the foundation for the legalization of online gambling in three US states – Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey. Several more states have been discussing the opportunity since then, including California, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and Massachusetts. Discussions in some of the aforementioned states have progressed significantly, yet iGaming has so far failed to gain sufficient support to get legalized there.
If Sen. Sessions takes more serious measures towards the federal prohibition of online gambling when he assumes his post, that will likely meet staunch opposition. States where such services are legal or are in the process of being legalized will certainly not give up without a fight.
