WASHINGTON – Yesterday, Roll Call published commentary by NACS Senior Vice President of Government Relations Lyle Beckwith on whether the Wire Act bans Internet gambling (and not just sports betting). Beckwith addressed the argument that it is a right of the states to control gambling policies within their borders.
Beckwith asserts that in this day of technical savvy and Google searches, there is virtually no such thing as “intrastate gambling,” as it has become simple for anyone, anywhere – and any age – to play state lottery games.
He writes, in part: “States looking to put their lotteries online, for example, want to pretend that this constitutes purely intrastate gambling activity, but they’re wrong. Unlike brick and mortar casinos and convenience stores that sell lottery tickets, the Internet is accessible any time, by anyone, from anywhere. Sure, there are technologies that can help locate a computer or a smartphone. But circumventing those technologies merely takes a search engine and about two minutes.”
The Georgia lottery is already offering different types of games online besides lottery, writes Beckwith, noting how easy it is to access the site from an out-of-state location and further, that the method of age verification is a simple checkbox.
“Herein lies the real states’ rights problem. Say I’m in Hawaii, a state that does not allow any gambling. But all of a sudden, I can get online — apparently no matter how old I am — and play another state’s lottery from anywhere and everywhere with Hawaii. That means the state of Hawaii has lost its ability to control what gambling goes on within its borders and its citizens can gamble from home, work, the car and even church using their choice of computer, tablet or mobile phone. The rights of Hawaii and every other state in the country to limit the gambling that can be done within its borders are completely undermined by a single state offering online lottery sales.”
Right now, most states already prohibit some forms of gambling, and two states prohibit all forms of gambling. However, “State policies limiting or prohibiting gambling activities will become meaningless, as soon as people can find and play whatever games they want on the Internet,” Beckwith writes, advocating that members of Congress consider this as they formulate their positions on Internet gambling.