Special Edition recap of H.R. 2267 passing in committee hearing.
On today’s edition of The Daily Deal, we have a special edition for you today. We’ll recap yesterday’s huge victory for poker in the United States, find out what amendments were added and find out what’s next for the bill.
Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to The Daily Deal, brought to you by Poker News Daily. There is big news out of Washington as the house financial services committee met on Wednesday to discuss HR 2267. The bill, introduced by Barney Frank, calls for internet gambling regulation, consumer protection and enforcement. Many representatives were on hand to file amendments and make their voices heard. After several hours of debate, the bill was passed by a vote of forty-one to twenty-two. This marks the first of what will be many steps to be taken in order to regulate and fully legalize online poker in the United States.
The committee began discussion on provisions of the bill in the markup phase, which is where a congressional committee makes changes to a bill before it is voted on. Now that it has passed that step, it will go to the House of Representatives for another vote. Should it receive a majority vote there, it would then be passed along to the Senate for another majority vote, before being signed into law by the President.
Several amendments were made to HR 2267 on Wednesday, with each being handled invidiually and voted on by the representatives in attendance. Thirteen amendments passed, with the first being that sites that have intentionally broken internet gaming laws will be forbidden to get licenses in the United States. Other amendments include many that protect minors from being solicited via email or advertisements while others force all facilities of licensees that operate do so completely within the borders of the United States.
This marks a huge victory for the poker industry and those that want to enjoy the freedom of playing legally in the United States. Although it is just the first of many steps, the overwhelming margin of victory for the bill is a good indicator of its potential in congress.
The Poker players alliance, led by executive director John Pappas said,
“We commend the lawmakers who helped make H.R. 2267 stronger through a variety of consumer protection mandates … we thank Representatives John Campbell, Mary Jo Kilroy, and Melissa Bean for their thoughtful additions to the bill and their interest in preserving the rights of adult poker players in their districts.”
PokerStars has come out in support of HR 2267, despite the first amendment to the bill which might prevent them from doing business. It is pokerstars’s stance that they have been operating legally, and therefore, not affected by that first amendment. Whether that is true or not, and whether the bill is passed or not, remains to be seen.
Thanks for joining us for this special edition of the daily deal and as always you can follow us at twitter or bookmark our site for our daily updates. I’m sean gibson wishing you deep runs in all your tournaments!
