The House Oversight Committee held its long-awaited hearing on the Restoration of America's Wire Act (RAWA) on Wednesday.
Entitled "A Casino in Every Smartphone - Law Enforcement Implications," committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz led what was expected to be a one-sided debate on the issue.
What transpired couldn't have been worse for RAWA supporters as witnesses and even committee members supported state rights over a total ban on internet gambling.
RAWA Supporters Come Off as Uninformed
Not surprisingly the majority of those speaking out in favor of RAWA came across as grossly misinformed. Chaffetz started off claiming that one lawyer in the DOJ overturned over 50 years of policy despite the fact that the issue had been debated and researched for years before the 2011 memo was released.
South Carolina AG Alan Wilson likened online gambling to "Pandora's Box" and started spouting off horror stories of how children have been left to die alone while parents went off to gamble.
FBI Assistant Director Joseph Campbell gave testimony during the hearing but clearly was uninformed. He made broad claims that iGaming can be used for money laundering despite not being able to cite a single instance.
Campbell also believed that the Black Friday case against Full Tilt Poker was about sports betting.
Committee Members Speak in Support of iGaming
Not everyone on the committee was mindlessly following Chaffetz's dogma. Rep Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) spoke out favorably in defense of NJ iGaming. She told the committee that the state had successfully regulated online gambling since 2013.
She stated that, "The evidence clearly demonstrates that with proper regulation, in-state online gambling poses no more problems to law enforcement than brick-and-mortar gambling."
Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) also spoke favorably about Nevada and its geolocation technology. She also spoke out against FBI Assistant Director Joseph Campbell's testimony that regulated online poker is an issue for law enforcement.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) pointed out that geolocation is a good thing as player verification is already in place, virtually eliminating underage gambling.
Even Jody Hice (R-GA) ultimately supported states rights despite the fact that he's a pastor and completely opposes gambling.
He stated that the 10th Amendment must be protected regardless of whether we agree with gambling. Hice also stated that RAWA flies in the face of the Constitution.
Hearing Did Not Have Desired Outcome for Chaffetz
To say that Wednesday's hearing did not go how Chaffetz envisioned is a gross understatement.
What could have been a rallying point for RAWA turned out to backfire in Chaffetz's face as several committee members pointed out the flaws in the national ban on iGaming.
Most importantly RAWA did not come to a vote in committee and at this point one has to wonder if there is any chance at all for that happening.
Chaffetz was hoping to prove to the world that iGaming needed to be banned but rather the world saw that the issue is a state right's issue and that the ban does not even have the support of its sponsor's committee.
Is this the end of RAWA? Probably, at least for 2015.
Now the question is whether lawmakers will abandon this fruitless endeavor or try to come up with a new strategy next year.