Same Old Song And Dance

The same, tired arguments that have been used against online casino legalization for a decade are now coming out of the mouths of online casino supporters.

I wasn’t there on Day 1, but I’ve been involved with online gambling since its infancy in the late 1990s. I was right in the thick of it during the Wild West online poker days, maneuvered through the post-UIGEA era, and survived the rollercoaster ride of 2011 (Black Friday to the DOJ OLC Opinion).

The OLC opinion was a game-changer. It was supposed to put the craziness in the rearview mirror (or so we thought), and 2012 and 2013 were exciting years for online gambling; everything was coming up roses.

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In the immediate aftermath of the OLC opinion, the first wave of online lotteries went live, and online gambling was legalized and launched in three states. Congress was holding hearings on online poker, the American Gaming Association was advocating for legalization, and most of the industry was on board with online gambling after years of opposition.

In January 2014, then AGA president and CEO Geoff Freeman penned an op-ed for The Hill titled, Regulate, don’t ban, online gambling, in which he reiterated his submitted testimony to the congressional Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade in December 2013:

“The American Gaming Association believes the best protection for consumers of online games is through strong and effective regulation that respects states’ rights.  We look forward to working with Members of this Subcommittee and other congressional leaders to achieve this goal.” 

Momentum was finally on the pro-legalization side; the toothpaste was seemingly out of the tube. We expected a post-PASPA rush to legalize online gambling.

And then, poof, it was gone.

“One of the things I’ve learned in the industry is we are extraordinarily competent at shooting one another. The snipers in this industry are of the highest quality, and if you let that be the focus, we’ll kill each other.”

Freeman uttered those words when the trade group withdrew its support of online gambling in May 2014.

Same Evidence; Different Conclusions

A rift within the AGA caused the about-face. Sheldon Adelson, who formed the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling lobby group, spearheaded the anti-side.

Adelson and his allies masterfully deployed talking points that intuitively made sense (“Click a mouse, lose your house” and “A casino in every pocket,” complete with cell phone prop), all the while undercutting the pro-legalization side’s arguments by focusing on the lack of concrete evidence to support the arguments for legalization.

For example, here are excerpts from a letter sent to AGA members by CSIG that shows how easily the waters can be muddied:  

“While representatives of the AGA claim that legalizing online gambling will create jobs, analysts who track the industry, and even one of the AGA members, predict that Internet gambling will reduce revenues at job-creating land-based casinos.

“While representatives of the AGA claim that technology can prevent kids from betting online, and assure that Internet gambling will not be used by criminals for fraud or money laundering, the FBI, in letters to Congress, has raised concerns that Internet gambling sites can be exploited by criminal elements, and that age verification procedures can be defeated.”

At the same time, anti-gambling crusaders grew even louder about their concerns over the social harms of readily available gambling.

The pro-legalization side was constantly on defense, and while it might win Super Bowls, defense doesn’t win debates.

Adelson and his allies machine-gunned evidence-free claims into the debate and let supporters of legalization try to keep up in a futile game of he said, she said. It was a mess, and outside of the 1% of lawmakers who were heavily invested in legalization (for various reasons), everyone else pushed themselves away from the table.