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.