Joe Biden’s Son Quits Job Due to Online Casino Ties

It is amazing how things can change over night when enough pressure is applied. Hunter Biden, Senator John Biden’s son, is reportedly not lobbying to legalize online casinos. This all came after questions arose to the Obama Campaign referring to the vice-presidential candidate’s son lobbying for his client Russ De Leon in a fight to legalize online casino play in the United States. De Leon is a share holder in the Party Gaming group. The New York Times reported that Hunter Biden quit working as a lobbyist in Washington after his father announced that he would be the running mate of Barack Obama.

So how does something like that happen? Hunter Biden is a lawyer who was representing 9 clients lobbying for the legalization of online casino play in the United States. He was hired in June of 2008 by the lawyers of DeLeon and his wife to negotiate a clean record for their business done in the United states before President George W. Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (U.I.G.E.A.) in 2006. DeLeon and his wife own a London based online gambling company, Party Gaming, plc.

The firm of Hunter Biden was hired to get Washington to clarify whether or not online casinos were legal or not before the U.I.G.E.A. was put into place. David Wade who is a spokesman for the Obama campaign says that the Senator’s involvement with online casino lobbying is that he “worked on the House side to encourage introduction of a bill that would clarify that online gaming sites like those operated by PartyGaming would not have liability for operating prior to the passage” of the 2006 law. “End of story,” he added.

One thing is for sure, those who want the U.S. online casino industry to be legalized should lobby, petition and fight for it. Reasons to why online gambling is better off legalized need to be presented articulately and at the right time… we just think that an election year may not be the right time for something so taboo.