There has been some encouraging news recently for Americans hoping to play online poker in the future. Harry Reid and Joe Barton recently joined forces looking to pass online gambling regulation through the Senate and it seems they have turned some heads in the process. Barton, republican from Texas, may not on the surface appear to be someone who would be a big proponent of legalizing internet gambling. However, what is even more interesting is Barton and Reid have clashed on other issues in the past making their union on internet gambling quite an interesting one. The two congressman are hoping to not only regulate and legalize online gambling but to do so as soon as this year!
To get this done they have been searching for both the backing of the general public, but even more importantly, the backing of fellow Senators and Representatives. Last year Barney Frank learned the hard way how not having a strong support of Senators and Representatives can be crippling when trying to pass or amend internet gambling legislation. Unfortunately for Frank, Representative Spencer Bachus as well as Lamar Smith and Dave Camp were all vehemently opposed to gambling regulation and legislation. However, instead of trying to amend the UIGEA, Barton and Reid are attempting to pass a new bill with a new committee.
Barton and Reid will bring this bill in front of the Energy and Commerce Committee where Barton sits as its chairman. The two hope to continue to improve the bill and present it to the committee as early as this summer. Because of internet gambling’s potential tax revenues it is being viewed as a great source of potential relief for the country’s current economic deficit. Barton, who enjoys playing poker himself, has sought out other congressman to help him pass this legislation through.
The bill, which is still in the works, will focus around sound gambling practices that would avoid the events leading up the Black Friday, April 15th’s shutdown of American Online Poker by the US Government. Senator Bachus, who for years has never said a kind word about internet gaming, released the following this week: “I’m not opposed [to Barton’s proposal] but if there’s gambling, it has to be regulated.” While this may not seem like a ringing endorsement for internet gambling, it is certainly a huge step in the right direction from where we were just weeks ago. John Pappas, Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance, added this regarding the bill “We think he can bring a very strong coalition of conservative-minded Republicans to support it, he’s respected, not only with the more socially conservative, but the more fiscally conservative caucus within the House, and brings a really credible voice to this issue because he understands why regulation makes sense, not only from the perspective of a lawmaker, but also that of a poker player.”
Barton feels he will soon get the green light and is also receiving support from Barney Frank who himself is still trying to pass gambling legislation. With both supporting one another it might only be a matter of time before something gets done. Barney was quoted as saying, “I’ll go for the broadest bill possible. We have an extraordinary restriction on people’s freedom right now, so I would support the broadest bill possible … but I would take something over nothing,” earlier this week. He is one of the biggest proponents of American’s freedoms which makes him the perfect candidate to get internet gaming laws amended.
More legislation news should be coming out shortly. Be sure to stay tuned to FlopTurnRiver for any and all internet gaming regulation updates.