Online Gambling Opponent Not Running for Re-Election

February 23, 2011 | News Category: Gaming Law

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Online gambling fans, and those connected to the general online gambling industry in the United States breathed a collective sigh of relief when it was announced earlier this month that Senator John Kyl is not planning to run for re-election when election time comes around in 2012.

Senator John Kyl is currently a Republican senator, who has been one of the most vocal opponents to online gambling in the United States. In fact, he is one of the biggest fans of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). In 2006, when the UIGEA was passed, Senator Kyl was calling for an end to online gambling in the United States.

It should be remembered that when the UIGEA was passed, it was actually attached to another bill that was unconnected to online gambling, and that is how it managed to make it thought the legislative process.

The online gambling community will certainly be pleased to see Kyl walk away from the political arena. The fact that Kyl is not running for re-election gives the online gambling world in the United States some hope that perhaps now the UIGEA can be repealed.

Senator Kyl has been involved in politics for some time now. He is considered to be the second ranking Republican in the United States Senate. He has been a lawmaker in the US for a full three terms, or 18 years. In his position in the US Congress, he was the main opponent to online gambling around.

Before the UIGEA was passed in 2005, Senator Kyle made a statement on the CBS television news program, "60 Minutes" in which he made it obvious that he felt that parents were not to be trusted with their own children. He said of online gambling that it is "so easy to do. It's so easy for kids to do. It's so addictive... Our kids have access to the Internet. They're frequently not supervised, and you can run up a huge debt on your folk's credit card."

In 2007, Kyl was certainly opposed to the online gambling bill that Congressman Barney Frank proposed. Kyl said: "The Frank bill is unacceptable to the State Attorneys General and it ought to be unacceptable to Members of Congress as well. I urge my colleagues to oppose the Frank bill or any similar proposals that would create a permissive Federal licensing scheme for Internet gambling."

While more and more US lawmakers are relaxing their views regarding legalized and regulated online gambling, Kyl has not softened at all, and is as opposed to online gambling now as he was in 2005.