Sen. Graham Also Questioned Lynch on Polygamy and Gay Marriage
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who is cosponsporing a bill that would ban all online gambling in the United States, grilled Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch on gambling laws in the USA during confirmation hearings.
To most observers of the politics in Washington D.C., the exchange between Graham and Lynch is not likely to register as particularly important. To the online and land-based gaming community, the dialogue is being analyzed with close consideration. Because Loretta Lynch is going to run the Justice Department, her attitudes on gambling will shape the federal government’s attitudes, to a large degree.
Graham Grilled Lynch on 2011 Memo
In the nomination hearings on Wednesday, Sen. Graham asksed Loretta Lynch if she was familiar with a 2011 Justice Department memo which restricted its interpretation of the 2006 UIGEA and 1961 Wire Act bans to include sports gambling, but not online casinos or poker rooms. Judge Lynch said she was familiar with that memo, but she had not studied the case closely enough to render a legal opinion on the case.
Lindsey Graham then veered into conspiracy theorist territory, asking Judge Lynch if she thought money from unregulated online gambling would help raise funds for foreign terrorists. Lynch responded to that vague question with an equally vague answer, saying, “I think certainly that with respect from those that provide material support and finance of a terrorist organization is that they will use any means to finance those organizations.”
Lindsey Graham’s Misbegotten Talking Point
That certainly is a tepid reply, but it fails to address the point Senator Graham was trying to make. Graham worked with US Representative Jason Chaffetz to write Restoration of America’s Wire Act, a bill that would ban all types of online gambling in 50 states. Everyone is certain that Lindsey Graham was trying to make an argument for a ban on all online gambling, as the past 6+ months have been about his attempts to do so.
To do that, Senator Graham appeared ready to smear online gambling as an un-American enterprise used to aid terrorists abroad. The logical conclusion to his argue, though, would seem to imply America should regulate online gambling, not ban it.
A Case for Regulated Online Gaming
A long history of legislation shows that banning an activity drives it underground, but does not stop it. The PASPA law bans land-based sports betting in 46 states, while leaving it legal in Nevada, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon. That ban assures that $100 million will be wagered legally on Super Bowl Sunday, while $3.8 billion will be wagered illegally on Black Sunday. Banning sports gambling assures that illegal operators make 38 times the money that legal businesses do.
Yet Lindsey Graham wants to ban all legal online casinos and Internet poker sites. That would mean, by definition, all online casinos and Internet poker sites which accepted American players would be unregulated and illegal–just the kind of sites Lindsey Graham was fretting about. If Restoration of America’s Wire Act were passed, more unregulated online gambling would take place–not less. Therefore, the RAWA would aid the kind of black market operators who might fund the terrorists.
The obvious answer to unregulated online casinos and card rooms is to legalize, license, regulate, and tax those websites. Under that system, legal operators would have to prove they were legitimate business operations. Licensing would require them to prove they had no ties to terrorist organizations. Under those circumstances, most American gamblers naturally would choose to place bets through the legal sites–not the shady offshore operations.
Loretta Lynch Avoided the Snare
Kudos to Judge Loretta Lynch for not taking the bait. The Republican Senator wanted to go on the record criticizing online gambling, or implying to those viewers out there without a full understanding of the subject that online gaming is somehow a major revenue source for terrorists. Loretta Lynch didn’t take the bait, didn’t give Graham a chance to make a splash, and so it became a non-issue in the confirmation hearings–as it should.
Most of the questions for the AG nominee had to do with weighty matters, specifically incidents and issues which have occurred under current Attorney General Eric Holder. In light of those serious discussions, Lindsey Graham’s brief flight of fancy is likely to appear to most TV viewers to be a clown act.
Video Clip of Lynch and Graham
Those wanting to see a video clip of Lindsey Graham’s exchange with Loretta Lynch can watch that video here. If you want to see the particular moment where online gambling sites are discussed, go to 6:22 minutes into the clip.
