Last week, online poker players across the United States watched as HR 2267 passed out of the House Financial Services Committee by a 2:1 margin, 41-22. The winds of change are clearly in the air, but how long will the internet poker world wait until regulation finally comes to fruition?
Among those ardently working on Capitol Hill is Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas, who told Poker News Daily on Tuesday that he was elated to see the somewhat bipartisan support for HR 2267: “I was really pleased with the overwhelming majority and the bipartisan support for the legislation. If you look back just four short years ago, the House passed an Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA)-like prohibition by a wide margin. Just two years ago, we had a bill defeated on a 32-32 stalemate. Now, we have a pro-internet poker bill that passed by a 2:1 margin.”
Time is quickly running out on the 2010 legislative session, with less than a month remaining for Congress to act. The lawmaking body is on summer recess until September 10th and has a target adjournment of October 8th for general elections. Pappas shared the PPA’s timeline for action: “What Barney Frank (D-MA) indicated in the committee hearing last week was that his intent was to move HR 2267 simultaneously with the revenue bill in the Ways and Means Committee. In September, we hope to have the Ways and Means Committee mark up their bill and bring both bills to the floor.”
The revenue companion bill to Frank’s HR 2267 is HR 4976, introduced by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA). It was discussed in the House Ways and Means Committee in May and boasts four co-sponsors. Meanwhile, HR 2267 lacks a supported counterpart in the Senate, where Senator Robert Menendez’s (D-NJ) S 1597 has not been discussed in any committee and offers no co-sponsors.
Among the various amendments added to HR 2267 last week included one by Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) forbidding those internet gambling sites operating illegally in the United States now from receiving licenses. The inclusion has raised the question as to whether rooms like PokerStars and Full Tilt will exist in a regulated regime. Pappas speculated, “Most of the online poker sites have well-reasoned legal opinions that say they’re not operating in violation of any Federal law. It’s hard to prove that someone is operating illegally if you haven’t convicted or indicted anyone. How can they be considered illegal if they continue to operate without any legal repercussions?”
Not optimistic about HR 2267’s chances of becoming law before the end of the legislative session was Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) Chairman Joe Brennan, who told Poker News Daily, “Frank’s bill has no companion bill in the Senate. All of these amendments were thrown in and it’s a bill that doesn’t have a chance of passing before the end of this Congress.”
Brennan also questioned whether the 14 amendments added to HR 2267 increased its chances of approval in the House: “On the face of it, it was a difficult bill made even more difficult by all of those amendments. The post-markup bill is something that anyone who is in the industry now should be concerned about. It’s so nakedly tilted away from current operators to establish a standard for individuals and companies as far as licensure.”
An amendment proposed by Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-AL) and Michele Bachmann (R-MN) prohibits anyone who has “knowingly participated in, or should have known they were participating in, any illegal internet gambling activity” on or since the passage of the UIGEA in 2006 from receiving a license. Consequently, how the clause is enacted will play a major role in determining who is able to serve the U.S. market. Companies like Party Gaming, for example, have signed non-prosecution agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Pappas added that the PPA has seen a spike in donations since the markup hearing. Read our complete recap of the HR 2267 markup.
