Anti-online gambling legislation appears to be losing its appeal for US federal lawmakers, according to a libertarian thinktank.

Michelle Minton (pictured, in blue), a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), published a blog post on Wednesday detailing her experience at a recent ‘Policy Forum’ organized by The Keelen Group, a lobbying firm hired by Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson (pictured, in black) to promote the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), which seeks to ban most forms of online gambling in the US.

Besides Keelen Group members, the event’s list of speakers included former Congressman Connie Mack and former House Republican Conference chairman J.C. Watts, both of whom are being paid to lobby on RAWA’s behalf. Despite CEI’s history of bashing RAWA, Minton was able to wrangle an invite to the Policy Forum.

Upon her arrival at Keelen HQ, Minton found just three other attendees, one of whom was from the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA), one of the groups that signed an anti-RAWA letter last month. After taking her seat, Minton was approached by Darryl Nirenberg, the Adelson lobbyist who was responsible for drafting RAWA’s original text.