penny-ante

Japan Times OnlineのAugust 12, 2014の見出しObama should follow Nixon’s lead and do the right thingの記事を引用します。
By today’s standards, however, Nixon’s efforts to protect his henchmen, including his screwing around with the FBI investigation that led to an article of impeachment for obstruction of justice, look positively penny-ante, more worthy of a traffic ticket than a high crime or misdemeanor. Obstruction of justice, scandalous and impeachable just 40 years ago, has become routine.
上の引用文に出てきた "penny-ante" はどんな意味でしょうか？
・Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary: not important, valuable, or impressive: a penny-ante operation: penny-ante politics
・Cambridge English Dictionary: of little value or importance: He was proposing some penny-ante increase.
大事ではないとの事ですが覚えて置きましょう。