It seems that times are hard these days for politicians who have been staunch supporters in the past of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. One such politician is a former Representative out of Iowa named Jim Leach who, along with others from his Republican party, is known for coming up with that hot mess piece of legislation. Leach is known for waxing poetic about the horrible ills of online casinos, but now he is coming to terms with the fact that his opposition to online casino gaming in the United States may not serve him too well when he tries to get his spot in Washington back.

For enemies of online casinos within the United States, there are few citizens who rank higher than Jim Leach. He was one of the first to speak out against Internet casinos. He was also one of the first targets of the ever expanding grassroots effort working in support of the notion of a person’s freedom to choose to gamble at casinos online. Back in 2006, he lost his campaign even though he was the incumbent becasue of the impressive solidarity that was shown by fans of online poker who are against him and his work with the UIGEA.

Leach says that he now acknowledges that his role in supporting the UIGEA, among other things, has drastically hurt his bid for re-election. Right now he is working at Princeton University as a professor of public affairs. Nonetheless, Leach seems hell bent on clinging to his own misguided ideas and perceptions about online gambling even though, for the most part, they have all been proven to be utterly false.