Based on a paper: A New Frontier in Gambling Policy: Internet Wagering as Morality Policy by Kathleen Ferraiolo (2016). The paper discusses about the coming back of morality policy with the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. A development of an indirect morality rhetoric applied in the congress as an indirect morality policy to gain influence over the debate is noteworthy. Normally, this kind of morality policy is quite difficult to be implemented in religious society. We try to understand why this kind of the debate and perspective have emerged in the US despite a declining trending of religious adoption among citizens. We found, however, a recent research of an emergence of radical politics such as global Islamic extremism and White Supremacy movement has correlated with the event. By the way, there should be more study regarding the issue. There should be not rush to make a conclusion that this is a causation linkage between the two entities. Correlation is not a causation.

1. Iqra Arshad
Kan Yuenyong
A New Frontier in Gambling
Policy: Internet Wagering
as Morality Policy
By
Kathleen Ferraiolo
Kathleen Ferraiolo is
originally from
Connecticut and
received her B.A. in
political science. MA
and her M.A. and Ph.D.
in Government from the
University of
Virginia. She teaches
courses in American
politics and public
policy.

2. • Does morality policy exist?
• Can we use the two terms
interchangeably?
• Axiology (value-laden policy)
• Difficult to compromise

3. • There are disagreements about what
precisely gives an action, rule, or
disposition its ethical force. There are
three competing views on how moral
questions should be answered, along
with hybrid positions that combine
some elements of each:
• Virtue ethics;
• deontological ethics; and
• consequentialism
• The former focuses on the character of
those who are acting. In contrast, both
deontological ethics and
consequentialism focus on the status of
the action, rule, or disposition itself, and
come in various forms.
Religion BReligion A
Religion C
Morality Policy based on
universal code of ethics

4. A New Frontier in Gambling Policy: Internet Wagering as Morality Policy
(details)
Why it gets back to the debate
Issue(s) on the debate
Society related issue (camouflage)

5. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/interactives/global-morality /

6. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/interactives/global-morality

7. https://news.gallup.com/poll/191903/religious-groups-disagree-five-key-moral-issues.aspx

8. https://news.gallup.com/poll/235640/above-issues-abortion -divides-liberals-conservatives.aspx

9. https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/

10. https://jigsaw.google.com/the-current/white-supremacy/data-visualization/

11. • It’s difficult to implement morality
policy in religious society
• American religious belief in general
is declining along the time
• More conservative / radical political
belief (white supremacy) is in a
rising trend, as a reactionary against
the global islamic extremism
• Also a reactionary against “cultural
marxism” (see for example July 22,
2011 terror attack on Utøya Island in
Norway by Anders Behring Breivik
+ Gates of Vienna

12. Abstract
• The primary question considered by this article is to what extent federal
gambling policy exhibits the features of morality policy as it has been
understood and defined primarily in the political science literature
• The existence of morality policy remains a hot topic from several years
• Researchers reached on the consensus that morality policies have some distinct
characteristics which are: core values, non-compromising morals, and clear
distinction between right and wrong
• The paper presented an overview of the federal government’s treatment of
online gambling
• It kept focuses on whether online gambling can be considered morality policy by
systematically examining the arguments advanced by online gambling
opponents during congressional debates
• Data from the Congressional Record indicate that the debate over online
wagering featured both moral and nonmoral arguments

13. • Across the United States gambling is flourishing and
having lotteries in 43 states and the District of
Columbia collect billions of dollars annually
• More than 400 commercial casinos are present in 11
states, and over 300 Native American casinos exist in
28 states
• Only six states have neither casinos nor a lottery
(Nelson & Mason, 2007) and only Hawaii and Utah
offer no forms of gambling
• In 2012 and 2013 Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey
moved to legalize Internet gambling, which allows
them to license and regulate online poker websites
• and enter into agreements with other states to offer
gambling opportunities to both in- and out-of-state
residents
• Federal actors have typically
assumed a neutral stance, over
lotteries and casinos in the states
(Frey, 1998)
• The Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act (UIGEA) 2006,
the federal government attempted
to prohibit the online wagering
• legal gambling in the United
States is a $135.9 billion-per-year
business
• In a 2006 Pew Research Center
study, 71 percent of Americans
approved of state lotteries and 71
percent reported having gambled
in the past year
Introduction

14. • Gambling is often thought of as a morality policy
issue
• Mooney & Schuldt, (2008) Schuldt investigate
whether morality policy exists by evaluating
scholars’ and the public’s assessments
• The literature contains a fair amount of
consensus about the common characteristics of
morality policy
1. First, conflicts over morality policy issues are
thought to involve debates over first principles
or core values
2. Second morality policy issues are not as
amenable to compromise as are other public
issues on questions involving basic moral
values
3. Third, because morality policies often involve
conflicts over simple conceptions of right and wrong
• In their analysis of the politics of morality policy
authors identified the causes of conflicts in moral
issues are: agenda setting, party conflicts, cleavages
in the Western European context, religion and
politics
• Researchers contend that “how an issue is framed,
rather than its intrinsic content, leads to its
classification as a morality policy
• Mucciaroni (2011) concurs, arguing that morality
policy constitutes primarily a strategy for framing
issues rather than a distinct policy typology
Morality Policy: An Overview

15. 4THCOFFEE Morality Policy: An Overview Cont…
• Seeking to overcome the conceptual challenges of defining morality policy primarily in light of
intrinsic content or entrepreneurial framing
• Knill (2013) distinguishes between two types of morality policies:
1. First, in the case of “manifest” morality policies, individual values and beliefs play a central
role i.e.“life and death” issues involving abortion and sexuality are examples of “manifest”
morality policies (closely linked to religious orientations)
2. Second, in the case of “latent” morality policies, issue are primarily framed in instrumental
terms; gambling, pornography, gun control, and drug regulation are the example of
“latent” category
• In each case, the focus is not on the intrinsic content of the policy itself, but on the ways in
which exogenous events, policy entrepreneurs, and “cultural opportunity structures”
• Clifford and Jerit (2013) investigate the ways in which elites appeal to the public’s moral
intuitions
• The researchers find that policy entrepreneurs successfully used distinctive patterns of moral
rhetoric to bolster their positions and shape public attitudes, and that the efforts of proponents
were particularly persuasive

16. Theoretical Framework and Expectations
• This article focuses on questions that emerge from the broader morality policy literature
concerning the moral content of legislative testimony about particular policy issues
• Specifically, it examines the dynamics of policy framing in the issue of online gambling
policy
• Online gambling as “intrinsically evil, unnatural” or a “violation of religious teaching” vs
a particular activity as posing a threat to society’s value system
1. First theoretical expectation is that moral frames will appear in the debate over online
gambling as policy entrepreneurs seek to exploit the issue’s “latent” moral content or
even “radicalizing” it
2. The second theoretical expectation is that the debate over UIGEA will feature significant
discussion of the expected consequences of online gambling
• However, based on the definitions of morality policy provided, gambling does not qualify
as an issue that clearly engages first principles, core values, or matters of life, death,
marriage, or reproduction

17. A Brief History of Federal Gambling Policy
• Researchers have explored questions such as the
relationship between gambling and organized
crime, job creation, and economic development
• Since the advent of Internet gambling in 1995, its
scope has grown dramatically
• Recent statistics on use and revenue are scarce
due to UIGEA’s attempt to proscribe Internet
gambling and because the online gambling
market itself is controlled by privately held
entities operating in lightly regulated jurisdictions
• American Gaming Association, reported in 2011
that worldwide, online gambling generated about
$30 billion in revenue annually
• Several factors have contributed to the growth of
Internet gambling including:
• An increase in Internet access, improvements
in technology, enhanced public confidence in
online financial transactions, and many
foreign governments’ willingness to license
Internet gambling operators within their
borders
• The opponents believe that traditional forms
of gambling are exacerbated in the case of
Internet gambling, including fears about
underage wagering, pathological gambling
• Gambling have negative externalities for
families, communities, and society, including
not only crime and addiction but also lost
work and school hours and an increase in
personal debt and subsequent need for public
assistance

18. Data and Methodology
• In order to observe the framing behavior of UIGEA supporters, this study employs a qualitative
methodological approach
Ferraiolo: Internet Wagering as Morality Policy
• The process of identifying the frames
was a largely inductive enterprise that
resulted from careful reading and note-
taking of the Congressional Record
transcripts.
• When more than one frame appeared
in a speech, the frames were ranked
according to prominence and
frequency, and “purely neutral claims”
were excluded from the analysis
• If a speaker put forward an argument
grounded in the notion that
participating in online gambling
constituted a violation of a “moral
code or religious teaching, text, or
belief that statement would be coded as
“immorality of gambling.
1
2
3
3 Frameworks were identified

19. Morality Talk During the Congressional Debate
Appeals to Youth
• A content analysis of speeches reveals that opponents of
online gambling articulated a wide variety of arguments
• Concerns about the threat for youth were present in 17 of the
38 speeches examined: the dangers of online wagering were
viewed as particularly salient for young people, whom
supporters warned would easily be able to defy age
requirements
• It give rises to the scrutiny by public or private officials
seeking to verify their eligibility, and must part with their own
cash in order to purchase tickets or chips
• UIGEA backers repeatedly referenced research that minors
are especially attracted to and at risk of becoming addicted to
online gambling
• Supporters argue that the anonymity of the Internet makes it
much easier for minors to gamble online
Characteristics of
Internet Gambling:
online players can
gamble 24 hours a
day from home;
children may play
without sufficient
age verification;
and betting with a
credit card can
undercut a player’s
perception of the
value of cash,
leading to
addiction,
bankruptcy and
crime
value-based arguments about the lure of
legalized online gambling for young people
and the threat it would pose for youth and for
their relationships then these arguments
certainly contained moral content

20. Effects on the Family, Community, and Society
• Other than individuals data present in 17 of the 38 speeches that were part of the analysis, centered
around the impact legalized gambling would have on families, communities, and society
• The negative consequences of online gambling can be as detrimental to the families and
communities of addictive gamblers
• Online gambling can result in addiction, bankruptcy, divorce, crime, and moral decline just as with
traditional forms of gambling, the costs of which must ultimately be borne by society
• Several backers argued that Internet gambling not only generates negative social consequences, it
also lacks social benefits
• from a macroeconomic perspective, there are no social benefits for Internet gambling, and from a
micro family perspective, enormous harm is frequently inflicted
• Another member remarked that the revenue from online gambling is “not job-creating” and that
Internet gambling is “wealth transfer
• Some proponents’ language focuses on the consequences from online wagering such as divorce,
crime, and bankruptcy

21. Policy Effects: Clarify the Law/Widespread Consensus
• UIGEA supporters claimed that passage of the measure would further the modernization and
clarification of existing federal gambling laws
• Another argument that emerged was the claim that the passage of federal antigambling
legislation would support states’ rights
• A number of lawmakers observed that UIGEA enjoyed near-unanimous support from state
attorneys general
• A final contention was that widespread consensus existed concerning the legislation’s goals as
necessary and desirable
• Members of Congress noted in their testimony that UIGEA was supported by a diverse array of
individuals and organizations including 48 state attorneys general, sports organizations and
many financial institutions
• In referencing for the law from a wide variety of law enforcement, sports, financial, civic, and
religious groups, supporters framed UIGEA as both socially desirable and politically consensual

22. A Deficit of Private and Governmental Behavior
Morality Frames
• Private behavior morality concerns rarely appeared in the debate over UIGEA
• There are several possible explanations for the lack of private behavior morality
frames
1. It is possible that online gambling opponents may privately harbor deep-seated
beliefs about the immorality of gambling that simply do not appear in their public
remarks
2. Opponents perhaps deliberately chose to emphasize the less controversial and more
politically salable rational–instrumental angle rather than the more treacherous path
of moral condemnation
• It is somewhat surprising that governmental morality frames were not more common
• Even if opponents were reluctant to label the activity as intrinsically evil, we might
expect them to offer a softer morality-based argument concerning the
appropriateness of government

23. • At a time when gambling of nearly all types at the
state level is expanding,
• The federal government has essentially prohibited
Internet gambling
• This paper considers the run-up to and passage of
the UIGEA of 2006 in light of various definitions
and descriptions of morality policy
• Consistent with the theoretical expectations, the
results presented here indicate
• That anti-online gambling arguments were not
centered around the “existential” threat to an
“individual’s personality and human dignity”
• Rather, concerns about the negative effects online
wagering could have on young people’s attitudes
and behaviors and on family and community life
• For many opponents the primary threat of
online gambling was not that it would damage
the individual, but that it would erode the
value system of society as a whole
• One critical aspect of this argument was the
notion that online gambling would be
particularly toxic for young people
• One of the most powerful weapons in the
arsenal of opponents of a whole host of
morality policy issues
• Is the ability to reference a credible threat to
children or youth that would result from the
enactment of a particular policy
• Pro-UIGEA advocates used expressive and
dramatic language to claim that young
Findings & Conclusion

24. • People are “particularly vulnerable” to online gambling, it is “marketed to minors” and that online sites
“prey” on minors and young adults, and that youth gambling could lead to…
• Criminal activity, strained family relationships, and even suicide
• Morality talk is about more than private behavior; it also encompasses claims about how individual
behavior impinges on important moral principles or traditional values,
• In this case the health and wellness of young people and their relationships with their families and
communities
• If we conceptualize healthy families and crime-free communities as a part of the norms and values that
society upholds, then the family/community/society frame did contain moral content
• The lawmakers explained that the legislation would modernize and clarify existing law, that it would
support states’ rights, and that the legislation enjoyed backing from a wide range of supporters
• In conclusion the youth frame contained a significant amount of moral content; the
family/community/society frame contained a mix of moral and nonmoral content; and the policy effects
Conclusion

25. 4THCOFFEE Future Research
• lawmakers were found to be extremely reluctant to invoke the language of personal morality
and to label an individual’s decision as sinful or wrong
• Instead, online gambling opponents emphasized the private, anonymous, and secretive nature
of Internet wagering as uniquely capable of inflicting harm on young people, families, and
communities
• To what extent are the results presented here generalizable to other settings outside of the
United States?
• In the international context online gambling legislation is significantly less restrictive than in
the United States and online wagering is subject to regulation rather than prohibition
• Apart from the connection to religious organizations and interests, this research suggests that
were perennial concerns about underage gambling, problem gambling, and money laundering
to emerge, we might see some of the same arguments that appear in the debate over UIGEA
to emerge in the international context
• Future researchers should continue to consider why the United States’ approach to online
gambling is so restrictive as well as whether debates in states that consider legalizing online
gambling will exhibit similar features as we have seen in the debate over UIGEA

26. • Morality policy is actually morality politics,
politics that evolve over time as new frames
are introduced. A politics that exhibits first-
principled conflict, moral outrage, lack of
compromise, the demonizing of opponents,
and wide public interest seems to arise when
a morality frame is successfully (although not
necessarily exclusively) applied to a debate.
• How, why, and when a policy is moralized or
demoralized are perhaps even more important
in understanding the policy-making process
on certain issues.
• A critical consideration for scholars in this
field ought to be in which venues we are
looking for moral frames: public opinion,
floor speeches, bill text, advocacy literature,
or elsewhere.
• We also need to examine more directly why a
morality frame is adopted (or rejected) and
how people, whether the public or those with
direct influence on policy, respond to them.
• Solid guidance for such an approach can be
gleaned from politi- cal psychologists who
have examined the relationship between
moral convictions and policy (e.g. Clifford
and Jerit 2013; Ryan 2017; Clifford 2019). In
addition, more scholarship should be devoted
to the temporal nature of policy moralization
and demoralization.
Rebecca J. Kreitzer*, Kellen A. Kane* and Christopher Z. Mooney*
The Evolution of Morality Policy Debate: and Demoralization (2019)
Our Opinion Based on:
Kreitzer et al (2019)

27. https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/for/17/1/article-p3.xml
• Interestingly, moral attitudes toward one such behavior – abortion – have hovered around 50 percent support throughout
this period due to maintaining debates.
• Moral attitudes toward gambling, birth control, and the death penalty5 have also been relatively stable during this period,
but at well below 50 percent disapproval on these once-morally contentious issues (Mooney and Lee 2000).