Is Congress Ready to Act on Behalf of Land-Based Gambling Industry?

A story in Wednesday’s edition of the New York Post (we linked to the printable version) explains that there is an increasing possibility that Congress would enact a law that would legalize online gambling before the end of the year.

The article uses anonymous sources and misspells the name of its “legit” source, but it does point out some things that clearly illustrate what a lot of people have suspected – that any consideration for passage of such legislation would be for purposes of serving to benefit the land-based casino industry.

The story is quoted as saying, “House Speaker John Boehner is another important Congressional leader to get on board, and his long-time aide, Lee Askew, earlier this year became vice president of government affairs for the American Gaming Association.”

The American Gaming Association is headed by long-time political operative Frank Fahrenkopf, who was formerly head of the Republican National Committee. It works as a lobbying group for the land-based casino industry, not for anyone who is currently in the online part of the business. Therefore, whatever bill eventually passes is going to have the effect of putting the larger hotel-casino chains in a position to capitalize in online gambling while creating a compromising environment for those who are already involved in it.

That’s the proper interpretation for all of this maneuvering.