Interstate Online Poker Could Flourish Under Biden
3 Min read
The Biden administration could be a boon for online poker, and may likely reverse a decision that put interstate play into murky waters.
Joe Biden says he opposes the Justice Department’s reinterpretation of the Wire Act, which would apply the statute to all forms of interstate gambling. (Image: Scott Olson/Getty)
In 2018, the Trump administration reversed a 2011 opinion on the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 that said the law only applied to sports betting. The 2011 opinion served as the basis for the formation of an interstate compact between Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware that helped create larger player pools and made games more attractive to aficionados. The 2018 reversal put the brakes on Pennsylvania’s plans to join the fray, which would have practically doubled the population base for interstate online poker.
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposed to Most Favored Nation Drug Pricing Final Rule
Introduction
On behalf of the undersigned federal and state-based organizations, we write to express our opposition to the interim final rule to implement the Most Favored Nation (MFN) Model under section 1115A of the Social Security Act. We request you withdraw the rule.
The rule forces physicians, patients, and providers into a mandatory demonstration under the Obamacare Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and ties the prices paid for medicines in Medicare Part B to the prices in foreign countries with socialized health care systems.
The proposal imports foreign price controls into America’s healthcare system. This will harm medical innovation and the development of new medicines. It will threaten high-paying American manufacturing jobs and do nothing to stop foreign freeloading. Instead, it will move the United States closer to a system of government-controlled healthcare.
Dear Leader McConnell, Leader McCarthy, and Republican Members of Congress:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, representing taxpayers, consumers, and free market advocates across the nation, we write in strong opposition to proposals from across the ideological spectrum to change substantive antitrust standards that encourage courts to break up and destroy American technology companies. While we sometimes are concerned with the actions of these companies, as long-time supporters of free markets and free expression, we are troubled to see that some fellow conservatives would try to use the sledgehammer of big government to attack companies they may disagree with on a political or ideological basis.
When the General Assembly reconvenes next week, broadband promises to be a hot topic.
One of lawmakers’ first order of business, according to Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, will be to pass legislation handling money in the rural broadband grant program. In December, legislative leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper agreed to shuffle around $30 million in COVID-19 relief funds that lawmakers earmarked for rural broadband.
Due to questions over whether the federal government required the money to be spent by the close of 2020, Cooper shifted the $30 million to other, more immediately needed expenses that qualified for pandemic relief. When lawmakers return to session, it will be their turn to vote to shift into rural broadband the $30 million the state saved by using the federal relief money.