Paul Ryan and Online Gambling: When it Was Time to Put Up, He Shut Up
Mitt Romney on Saturday tapped Paul Ryan, a seven-term congressman from Wisconsin, to be his Vice Presidential running mate on the Republican ticket.
But while the mainstream media focus on Ryan's political positions on subjects such as taxes and the budget, Gambling911.com readers likely want to know where he stands on the issue nearest and dearest to their hearts--gambling!
So Gambling911.com examined Ryan's record and discovered that when it was time to take sides on the biggest gambling-related issue to face the U.S. Congress in the last generation, not only did Ryan refuse to do so, he was nowhere to be found when the rest of Congress voted on the matter!
The year was 2006, and the U.S. House of Representatives was voting on whether or not to enact the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which made it illegal for banks and credit card companies in the U.S. to allow their credit cards to be used to fund Internet gambling.
UIGEA passed easily, by a vote of 317-93.
According to the official record of the vote, which can be seen HERE - 201 Republicans voted in favor of UIGEA, while 17 Republicans voted against it.
On the other side of the aisle, 115 Democrats voted for UIGEA and 76 Democrats opposed it.
One Independent voted for it too.
The name of Paul Ryan, however, is not included among the Republicans who voted either for or against UIGEA.
Ryan was one of 22 congressmen (12 Republicans and 10 Democrats) who didn't cast a vote on the matter, so there's no way to tell by examining his voting record whether he supports or opposes online gambling.
And maybe that's the way he wants it to be.
On Ryan's website, at http://paulryan.house.gov , there's lots of information about various issues and his views on them, but nothing about UIGEA or gambling or why the congressman dodged the UIGEA vote.
So for now, the new veep candidate is a man of mystery--not only about whether he supports or opposes UIGEA (and by extension online gambling), but also why he didn't participate in the Congressional vote on the matter six years ago.
Gambling911.com will continue to look into the matter, and plans to contact the Romney/Ryan campaign to learn exactly why Ryan didn't vote on the UIGEA bill.
When Gambling911.com finds out what happened, it will be reported here.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
