Is It Possible Congress Will See Online Gambling Legalization As A Positive?
It is expected that on June 8th a congressmen from Florida is going to introduce legislation to Congress that will exempt poker and other games from the Internet gambling ban that President Bush passed by Congress in October of last year. The congressman is Democratic Representative Robert Wexler. The bill that he plans to set before congress would allow games of skill to be exempt from the ban. Some of these games of skill would be poker, bridge, and mahjong.
The online gambling ban made payments from customers to online gambling casinos illegal for banks and credit card companies. There are several heads of online payment processing companies that will testifying before congress to try to raise support to get the bill rescinded.
The online gambling ban that passed last year has been very unpopular with online gamblers and many in Washington as well. With the ban the United States Government will lose in excess of $4 billion each year in yearly tax revenue. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006 was part of the Port Security Bill that was designed to fight terrorism. When Bush spoke out on the Port Security Bill he did not say anything about the online gambling ban.
The bill that Wexler plans to unveil before congress is a more broad reading of the ban, as not all online gambling will be legal. But certain games of skill would be. There is also a meeting on the online gambling ban on June 7th by the House Financial Services Committee. The chairman of that committee is Rep. Barney Frank, who himself is a critic of the ban. Even though people are getting excited in he gambling community with the progress that is happening it does not look like online gambling will be legal any time in the near future. Frank has come out on record as saying that there is still not enough Congressional support in order to rescind the online gambling ban. When the ban was voted on in Congress the bill was passed by a majority of both Democrats and Republicans. There have also been many in Congress who have made the vow to fight the lifting of the ban should it come up.