Giving a glimmer of hope to the potential revival of significant online poker operations in the United States, a House of Representatives subcommittee is set to hold a hearing next week regarding the legalization and regulation of the online gambling industry, including poker, in the U. S.
The hearing will take place in front of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, a sub-panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on Tuesday of next week. This particular subcommittee focuses on interstate and foreign commerce, consumer affairs and consumer protection, all areas that covers potential online poker legislation. A member of the committee is Texas representative Joe Barton, who has proposed HR 2366 – titled the “Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2011” – and considers the hearing a significant step towards enacting such regulation.
“I am pleased that Chairman (Mary) Bono-Mack is holding a hearing on the important issue of Internet gaming,” said Representative Barton to The Hill following the announcement of the hearing. “It’s a first step to showing why the current law is a lose/lose for everyone – the public, the taxpayer, the banking industry, and the people who want to play poker openly and honestly on the Internet. I look forward to an open exchange of ideas.”
The hearing isn’t necessarily about Representative Barton’s bill but is examining the larger issue of internet gambling as a whole. The theme of the hearing has been titled “Internet Gaming: Is There A Safe Bet?” As Barton’s is the only legislation at this time to be introduced to the House, this does look to be a referendum in the House on the online poker question, however.
Although the hearing is a potential first step to getting some form of regulation and legalizations to online poker, it faces a huge roadblock in moving forward. In the past, potential online poker legislation has been pushed through the House Financial Services Committee which, prior to the Republican seizure of the House in 2010, was chaired by pro-poker advocate Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank. After the 2010 elections, the new chairman of that committee, anti-gaming crusader Alabama Representative Spencer Bachus, said that there would be no hearings regarding the issue. Thus, this particular subcommittee has become the focal point for attempting to move legislation forward.
Even if the legislation can move out of this committee, it faces an uphill road to being put to a vote in the House of Representatives. Although it has bipartisan support – the bill’s original sponsors include Democratic representatives Shelley Berkley of Nevada, Steve Cohen of Tennessee, John Conyers of Michigan, Mike Honda and Linda Sanchez of California, Ed Perlmutter of Colorado and Frank, and Republican representatives John Campbell of California, Michael Grimm and Peter King of New York and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia is a part of the anti-gambling coalition that would potentially block any further action in the House.
The Poker Players Alliance is pulling out the big guns to support proposed legislation. The PPA has already announced that its chairman, former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, will be a witness at the hearings. Meanwhile, Rich Muny, the PPA’s Vice President of Player Relations, has sent an e-mail to PPA members to request that they contact members of the Bono-Mack subcommittee to express their support for any internet gaming legalization and regulation.
The hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday at 10:30AM (Eastern Time) and will be held in the Rayburn House Office Building. Poker News Daily will monitor the hearings and report on any action that this particular hearing may bring.
We won’t on line poker approved now
The general uiblpc probably don’t approve of poker all too much, but here’s what I think, maybe my view will be of interest to your study:To play or do anything well there has to be some kind of investment . For example, if I wanted to be a good football player, I would fork out loads of money in training and kit, and if I were to fail at my shot at being a professional footballer, I would have lost money, right? Lost my risk, lost my gamble.To play poker you pay money because you want to play a game, have some fun. So in a way, you’re just paying for your entertainment, right? The only thing is is you have a chance of winning it back, and that is what people frown upon.Imagine if you took the winnings, the prize money, out of poker. Then you would see it my way. You’re playing poker because you want to, you’re just paying to play the game. It’d not be gambling’ anymore, it’d just be a night out. No harm.So basically people frown on poker because you can win your money back. It’s only like going to the cinema, enjoying the movie and then at the end of it somebody giving you your money back.