A $56.3 billion spending bill intended to support national security, law enforcement and American scientific innovation is outwardly a last-ditch effort by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to enact a nationwide ban on online casino games, including poker.

The 141-page spending bill encompasses a single paragraph of RAWA-like language. The bill comes from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies.

RAWA stands for “Restoration of America’s Wire Act,” which refers back to the 1961 law that the dept of Justice re-interpreted in 2011 to permit states to take the lottery to the Internet, in addition to legalize online casino games. “Restoring” it will presumably reverse that DoJ opinion.

The language comes a couple of third of how during the proposal.

Internet Gambling.—Since 1961, the Wire Act has prohibited nearly all types of gambling over interstate wires, including the web. However, beginning in 2011, certain States started to permit Internet gambling. The Committee notes that the Wire Act didn't change in 2011. The Committee also notes that the Supreme Court of the us has stated that “criminal laws are for courts, not for the government, to construe.”

GamblingCompliance reported thon the language was included at the request of Graham.

The measure was approved by the subcommittee on April 19, the day after a report from The Hill said that Amaya Gaming Group, parent company of PokerStars, hired a lobbyist on Capitol Hill to work on the web gaming issue. That apparently came over the similar time that the Sheldon Adelson-banked Coalition to prevent Internet Gambling hired another lobbying group to push its opposite agenda. The paragraph within the spending bill comes a handful of months after a December RAWA hearing led by Rep. John Chaffetz (R-Utah) went poorly for supporters of enacting the prohibition.

Read More... [Source: CardPlayer Poker News]