NACS Asks Congress to Support Online Lottery Legislation

NACS members can encourage their legislators to support the bill, which would protect the industry and consumers from a potential Wild West scenario of Internet gambling.

April 08, 2014

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) recently introduced bipartisan legislation, the Restoration of America's Wire Act — S. 2159 in the Senate and H.R. 4301 in the House — that seeks to restore the long-standing interpretation of the Wire Act and reverses the Department of Justice's abrupt December 2011 decision to expand online gaming.

NACS sent a letter to co-sponsors of the bill in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, explaining why this bill is important to the convenience store industry, noting that it would restore a long-standing interpretation of the Wire Act by reversing a Department of Justice decision that unilaterally expanded online gaming:

“Unfortunately, in late 2011 the Department of Justice changed nearly 50 years of legal precedent and decided that the Wire Act does not prevent gambling on the Internet (other than sports betting). Because of this dramatic change, the Internet is poised to be the Wild West of gambling with individual states allowing gambling businesses of all kinds to set up shop online and prey upon vulnerable Americans without any federal check or consistency.

“Not only would this put kids at risk and dramatically increase gambling addiction and related problems, but it would devastate NACS member businesses throughout the country. Among the products NACS members offer are lottery tickets. NACS members spend substantial time and money ensuring that they verify age before customers can buy lottery tickets. No website will be able to replicate that. And, for problem gamblers and those who cannot afford to lose the money, just the need to leave home, go to a store and deal with another person in a face- to-face transaction can create some friction on decisions that they would later regret — certainly more friction than clicking a mouse in the privacy of home would cause. All of that will be lost if there are no federal limits on lotteries and other online gambling,” wrote NACS.

Many convenience stores depend on lottery ticket sales to generate foot traffic inside the store. Furthermore, the frequent lottery customer purchases additional items when they purchase their lottery tickets. In fact, on 95% of their store visits, lottery customers purchased at least one other merchandise product in addition to lottery. 

Make sure the convenience and fuel retail industry’s voice is heard by asking your members of Congress to support S. 2159 in the Senate and H.R. 4301 in the House through the NACS grassroots website. For more information on this issue, contact NACS Government Relations Director Jon Taets at jtaets@nacsonline.com.

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