Dean: Regulate Online Gambling

Kevin K. Washburn, dean of the UNM School of Law and a member of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that a recent Justice Department ruling adds urgency to the need for federal regulations on Internet gambling. The Justice Department opinion, issued Dec. 23, opens the door for legalized Internet gambling, except on sports.

“I think Congress needs to get involved,” Washburn told the committee. “I think (the Justice Department opinion) has largely forced your hand.”

Washburn said that the United States has long had “a schizophrenic approach” to regulating gambling and that the absence of a federal law related to Internet gambling would pave the way for chaotic and contradictory state-by-state policies.

“It would be far more efficient to have one entity at the federal level that handles that regulation of gaming,” he said. “That entity … should be keenly focused on protecting the importance of Indian gaming to Indian tribes.”

In 2009, tribal governments hauled in $30 billion in casino revenues. Many New Mexico tribes have casinos. Washburn said that if Internet gambling becomes widespread it could significantly jeopardize a critical revenue source for tribes, especially those with casinos in rural areas.

“If that revenue source goes away, that’s going to be a federal responsibility to meet those needs,” Washburn said.

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said any federal regulation needs to be adopted with heavy input from tribes.

“Developing a set of standards or requirements that tribes who engage in gaming can agree on must be included in any possible Internet gaming legislation,” Udall told the hearing. “It is important that this conversation be continued and that Congress, tribes, consumers and other gaming interests carefully consider the merits and possible impacts of approving Internet gaming.”
— This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal