Loretta Lynch May Not Get Vote Over Answer to Online Gambling Question
At least one US Senator has said he will likely not vote to confirm Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch based on her answer to a question regarding online gambling, more specifically her unwillingness to overturn the 2011 Office of Legal Counsel opinion limiting the scope of the 1961 Wire Act to sports betting.
“I’m leaning no at this point,” Republican Nevada Senator Dean Heller told Politico about his confirmation vote for Lynch. “Haven’t given it an absolute no but I’m leaning no.”
In regard to the Wire Act, Heller noted: “She said she has very little knowledge of what occurred in the Wire Act, and yet at the same time, she prosecuted illegal gambling, offshore gambling. You can’t be prosecuting illegal gambling and say you have very little knowledge of the Wire Act itself.”
Lynch had previously offered a written response to a question asked by Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, co-sponsor of legislation that would prohibit most forms of Web gambling in the US.
Lynch stated that she was unwilling to comment on the 2011 opinion in more detail without researching it further and also noted she would be willing to study the issue further.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
