On September 27th, the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations took place, set to focus on sports betting. Since the May ruling by the US Supreme Court involving the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, sports betting has blossomed in the states. Many began to wonder if new federal oversight was needed, thus the hearing called by Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner took place.
While the hearing was called to focus on sports betting, it ended up involving online gambling for the most part. There were witnesses on hand that talked during the hearing that are anti-gambling and they tried to use the platform to push for their agenda.
Online gambling has been legal since 2013, with states such as New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada thriving. These states offer online poker and/or casino gaming, with Pennsylvania the next set to launch services online.
The Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling is an anti-online gambling group that continues to try and spread their agenda to hopefully see online gambling come to an end in the United States. A counselor for the group, Jon Bruning, was on hand to discuss issues they hold dear. During the hearing, Bruning talked about how minors could use a parent’s credit card to play online, trying to push that online gambling is a threat to young people.
The age-old battles by anti-online gambling groups have not worked as of yet and will hopefully never work. It seems the sports betting was used as a platform to discuss online gambling as a whole and Bruning tried to use the platform to serve a larger agenda.
Thankfully, online gambling seems to be here to stay. More states are becoming involved, not via online casino and poker offerings, but sports betting sites. As long as states continue to legalize sports betting and include online variants, it seems the online gaming industry will be here to stay.
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