Federal Bills Aim to Block All Online Gambling

A new federal proposal has been put forward which is aiming to reverse the Department of Justice’s 2011 decision allowing individual states to legalize online poker and gambling legislation.

The bill, which is being sponsored by Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, may run alongside the anti-online gambling proposal put forward by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. Congress is due to meet next week and it seems that both bills will be introduced then.

Chaffetz’ bill would restore the policy when all online gambling was prohibited under the Wire Act. The bill is very similar to Graham’s and is also supported by the aims of the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling which is funded by Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson.

However, the bill will be met with fierce opposition. The American Gaming Association, the Poker Players Alliance and the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection (C4COP) are all preparing to combat any attempts to ban online gambling.

C4COP has recently completed a three-week long media campaign which ran adverts on high-profile news websites urging people to support the move to “stop the congressional ban on online gaming.”