Online gambling opponents have hired former Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (pictured) to help lobby their cause in Washington.

This week, The Hill reported that the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG) had hired the lobbying firm of Squire Patton Boggs to help promote the Restoration Of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), legislation that would ban most forms of online gambling in the United States.

Lott, who was in the Senate when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in 2006, resigned his seat the following year to team up with former Louisiana Senator John Breaux on a lobbying group that was later acquired by the law firm that eventually became Squire Patton Boggs.

In the mid-1960s, Lott attended the University of Mississippi, where he successfully beat back attempts to racially integrate the Sigma Nu fraternity. Lott also served as a cheerleader for Ole Miss athletic teams, learning skills that likely serve him well in his present career. Just a hunch, but Lott’s willingness to lead cheers for RAWA could be because he’s under the impression it stands for ‘Race: All White, A’ight.’

Academics in Macau are urging Beijing to legalize gambling on the Chinese mainland in order to prevent the loss of revenue to neighboring Asia-Pacific nations.

Two Macau-based academics – Macau Polytechnic Institute professor Li Sheng and Institute for Tourism Studies assistant professor Weibing Zhao – have published an article in which they argue that Macau’s gaming industry cannot hope to meet the demands of mainland Chinese gamblers.

The article, titled Strategic Destination Management in the Face of Foreign Competition, says Chinese citizens spend a total of around US $161b on gambling per year. Even before Macau’s gaming industry underwent its current revenue slump, its peak annual gaming revenue haul accounted for only about one-quarter of this total.

The academics say Macau’s inability to cope with this demand has led to the recent “mushrooming” of casinos across the Asia-Pacific region, “particularly near the Chinese border.” The article notes that many of these other jurisdictions “restrict or prohibit their citizens from entering casinos, showing an overt intention to earn money from foreigners,” with a clear preference for Chinese gamblers.