Lesniak Has Been in the Legislature Since 1978, While Whelan Was Atlantic City Mayor for 3 Terms
Two New Jersey state senators collaborated on an open letter to the US Congress this week, asking members of Congress to vote against House Resolution 707. HR 707 is better known as “Restoration of America’s Wire Act“, often shortened to RAWA.
The two lawmakers are Sen. Raymond Lesniak and Sen. Jim Whelan, both Democrats. The letter discussed the damage such a bill would do to businesses in Atlantic City, along with the U.S Constitution. The senators also described how the passage of RAWA would put money in the hands of criminals, while also exposing Americans to the depredations of unscrupulous operators.
RAWA Will Do Nothing to Curb Online Gaming
Whelan and Lesniak wrote about the 50-state federal ban, “Not only would this bill do nothing to curb unlawful online gaming, it would push dangerous black market vendors further into the shadows, putting adult consumers and children at even greater risk.”
The New Jersey lawmakers explained that a regulated gaming environment is the best way to protect Americans from illegal gaming operators. Prohibition does not prevent the setting up on illegal gaming sites. US gamblers who want to play online table games, slot machines, and poker games can find offshore operators willing to take their money.
RAWA Shuts Down Legitimate Business
Banning such activity does nothing to shut down those operators. All it does is take away a legitimate, regulated business that would give American players a legal alternative.
Lesniak and Whelan explained in their open letter, the New Jersey lawmakers held up their own state’s efforts as an example to others. They discussed that the best way to protect Americans is to set up “a successful, regulated and licensed online gaming program–one that provides effective consumer protections for residents, while also providing much-needed funding for critical state priorities.”
RAWA Ends Help for Problem Gambling
That argument is even stronger for problem gambling. If RAWA was passed into law and a 50-state ban on online gambling went into effect, problem gamblers and their families would be put at greater risk.
Compulsive or addicted gamblers are not likely to curtail their activities. Driving their activities underground places them in an environment with no safeguards and no community resources. What it does do is place their gaming in a cloak of secrecy.
No Self-Exclusion under Adelson’s Bill
In a regulated environment, problem gamblers could sign up for self-exclusion lists in their more contemplative moments, so they could not gamble during their darker moments. While they could still sign up with the offshore operations, regulations require the legal sites to offer helpful resources and hotlines for troubled gamblers. Somewhere during their gaming, they might decide to seek help and counseling.
As for the idea that gaming sites could help fund terrorists, Lesniak and Whelan took up that issue in their letter to Congress when they said, “The best way to deter dangerous criminal activity–including fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing–is to establish a well regulated online gaming industry.”
Sen. Graham’s Inadvertent Argument for Legal Online Gaming
US Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the sponsors of House Resolution 707, recently gave Lesniak and Whelan an unwitting endorsement. During senate testimony at Loretta Lynch’s Attorney General nomination hearings, Sen. Graham argued that unregulated online casinos could fund terrorist cells. The New Jersey senators noticed, so they argued that the best way to assure that won’t happen is to make online casinos legal and regulated.
Lesniak and Whelan Profiled
Raymond Lesniak has served in the New Jersey legislature since 1978, when he first joined the General Assembly. Over the decades, the senator from the 20th District has become one of the power brokers in New Jersey state politics.
Jim Whelan was the 3-time mayor of Atlantic City in the 1990s, serving 11 years in that capacity. After a failed run for state office in 2001, he returned to teaching. On his second try for a state seat, Sen. Whelan entered the New Jersey legislature in 2007. He has become on its most active members in that time.
