Internet gambling bill awaits house vote

http://www.lotterypost.com/news/195231

Legislation seeks to enable some forms of online gambling such as Internet poker and wagering on horse racing
Congress is moving closer to passing legislation that will relieve U.S. financial services companies from implementing bans on Internet gambling as the Payments System Protection Act (H.R. 6870) was approved by the House Committee on Financial Services and appears headed for a possible vote by the full House next week.
Pushed by the committee's chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the legislation would delay implementation of earlier legislation that seeks to block Internet gambling. "Adults are entitled to do with their money what they want to do," Frank has said in explaining his effort to enable citizens to engage in some forms of gambling online.
Generally, opponents of the older legislation — the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 — maintain that online gambling can't be outlawed because there are many offshore gambling sites that are difficult or impossible to regulate and many Americans use the offshore sites anyway.
The new legislation also calls for institutions to block Internet wagers on sports, excepting jai alai and horse and dog racing.
If H.R. 6870 becomes law, it will be a boon to the estimated 23 million Americans who play poker over the Web. Jay Lakin, co-owner and VP of PokerSourceOnline.com, hailed the progress of the new legislation on Wednesday.
"Congressman Barney Frank was able to introduce the bill last Thursday and have it marked up and ready to be discussed on the House floor five days later," Lakin said in an e-mail. "It shows his true passion for this issue and steadfast belief that the federal government should not be determining what consenting adults do in their leisure time."
The proposed legislation seeks approval for the appointment of a special administrative law judge, who would define unlawful Internet gambling and carry out an economic impact study on compliance costs.
The Frank bill has the support of the Chamber of Commerce, the Financial Services Roundtable, and the Credit Union National Association; they all have criticized the older legislation banning online gambling as unworkable and burdensome.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, which supports the Frank bill, said: "Rather than prohibit an activity millions of Americans enjoy in the privacy of their homes, just as they can in a casino, Congress should create a framework to regulate Internet gambling as a way to protect consumers and collect billions in much-needed federal revenue."

I can not find this anywhere but this site. I have searched H. R. 6870 and it seems as if it is last year's version which did get out of committee. Do you have other sources about how it has passed committee this session (year)? Last I saw it was still being worked on in committee and groups such as the ppa and obviously congressmen and probably opposition groups are working to reach compromises to get it passed while ensuring it is still effective. For example in its current form there is no incentive to the States and they are allowed to opt out of the bill which would actually end up being worse than the status quo for now at least.

so when are they supposed to make a decision?

i was planning on making a deposit in july...should i reconsider?

I find it funny that a Democrat is suporting this bill and it is the Republicans who are always fighting against all things that are fun and bring joy to many peoples lives.

The Republicans used to be the party poker that tried to keep the government out of the lives of private citizens. Now they are the party poker that tries to regulate morality.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/...leID=217800632

Heres another link - looks like they are voting on it next week

But if you look for H. R. 6870 in Congressional databases with the official records the bill is simply nowhere to be found. The fact that this was the exact number of the bill from last session is just confusing me. Bills die at the end of each session and must be re-introduced each session, usually with a different number. Barney Frank has introduced a new bill and it is in committee last I saw, but I cannot find any record of an H. R. 6870 of 2009 anywhere other than the 2 sites. I'm not saying it's wrong but do you have any links to the actual bill?

In Hungary our government is planning to tax poker rooms. They desperatelly try to get money somehow...

I saw that...I can't find any links to the bill either...

If you go to the Library of Congress "Thomas" site you can search their database and find the bills. They were introduced on May 06, 2009. I also looked at the HOR site and couldn't find any type of schedule to when they will be voted on though.

H.R. 2266 is titled:
H.R. 2267 is titled:
H.R. 2268 is titled:

Thank you wsorbust

Well, knowing our Congress, this will take forever to be voted on. But this news is good news for us players, right?

this would be great...come on congress, you can do it!

Hey,

Thanks for the excellent Thread. This is very encouraging. Jeez, would it not be great to have aUS On Line Poker that is regulated by US Government, and located in the good old US of A.

mange

nice first post. talk about someone who is fighting for our right to do what we want with our money in our own homes. welcome to cardschat genius.