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That attempt – The Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) – is reportedly in play as a possible rider to a must-piece pass of legislation such as the cromnibus.
Most media coverage focuses on RAWA’s juicy storylines – Harry Reid allying with Adelson? A casino billionaire pushing a gambling ban?
But that glosses over the actual impacts RAWA would have should it become law: risking thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue while doing nothing to decrease the demand for or availability of online gambling.
As written, RAWA would immediately render the regulated online casino industries in New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware illegal under federal law.
Online poker and casino sites are labor-intensive operations – especially in highly-regulated, newly-launched markets where companies are battling for share.
As such, the regulated online casino industries in those states directly employ hundreds of people:
Atlantic City has shed some 7,000 jobs in the last year. Why are Adelson and his supporters so intent on pumping that number even higher?
Regulated online gambling supports thousands of additional jobs via the broader economic ecosystem surrounding the industry:
Regulated online gambling is already pumping millions of dollars into state coffers.
RAWA would immediately halt that badly-needed revenue flow.
I’d argue that $20mm for states is real money worth protecting.
But the tax benefits for states continue beyond the direct revenue paid by operators:
The irony of it all is that RAWA won’t even stop online gambling in the United States. Why?
Hype aside, RAWA is far from a blanket ban on wagering online. In fact, it contains a number of carve outs.
Should RAWA become law, you will still legally be able to:
And the political reality is that, to become law, RAWA will likely have to expand that list to include even more carve outs – certainly the lottery, for one.
Politically-motivated carve outs aside, RAWA provides no additional tools, resources or funding for US officials to address the issue of black market online gambling.
Literally hundreds of unregulated online casinos, sports books and poker sites – located offshore and beyond the reach of US authorities – will continue to accept American wagers if RAWA becomes law.
And those sites have none of the age verification, identity verification, consumer protection or anti-money laundering systems that regulated sites are required to utilize by law.
……….
There’s a reason why an incredibly diverse coalition opposes RAWA, and why RAWA’s supporters are generally limited to those benefiting from Adelson’s financial largesse.
It’s bad policy that will kill jobs and cost real revenue while doing nothing to solve the problem it purports to attack.