Partly backed by offshore gambling companies, poker lobbysists are aggressively pushing to legalize Internet gambling in the United States this year. Bankrolled with millions of dollars the campaign is hoping to make progress despite strong objections from social conservatives, sports leagues and other opponents.
Poker advocates have already convinced the Obama administration to delay enforcement of the 2006 law making Internet gambling illegal.
Poker and other online games have become hugely popular in the U.S. over the last several years and it is believed that the United States accounts for more than half of the $16 billion Internet gambling market. Proponents say that regulating Internet gambling would net the federal government millions of dollars in tax and licensing revenue if it were legalized. Using the six-month reprieve of the 2006 law, Rep. Barney Frank (Mass.) and other Democrats are pushing ahead with legislation that would legalize and regulate poker, mah-jongg and other online gambling games.
Proponents of online gambling are hoping that with Congress in the hands of Democrats, who have historically been less opposed to gambling than Republicans, and the growing popularity of recreational poker will work to their advantage.
A list of proponents include Frank and former Republican senator Alfonse M. D’Amato (N.Y.) D’Amato is the chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, which is spearheading the Capitol Hill push. The Poker Players Alliance has approximately 1.2 million members and is largely financed by by the Interactive Gaming Council, a Canada-based trade group for offshore gambling companies. The campaign has spent over $4 million lobbying Washington over the past year, and the alliance says its members have sent more than 300,000 letters and e-mails to members of Congress.
“I think there’s a growing realization in Washington that prohibition probably isn’t going to work, just like prohibitions throughout history have not worked,” said John Pappas, the poker group’s executive director. “There needs to be a more common-sense approach, because it’s not going away.”
The Justice Department considers all online gambling as illegal under a 1961 law that was aimed at bookies using telephone lines. The online gambling market is run largely by firms operating in Antigua, Malta and other foreign countries. The Justice Department has only prosecuted a few of the Internet wagering companies.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 was supposed to eliminate any ambiguity in the laws. The UIGEA bans U.S. banks from accepting payments from credit cards, checks or wire transfers to settle online wagers. The measure waas scheduled to take effect Dec. 1.
However, as the enactment deadline approached, gambling interests joined by banks and other financial institutions urged that it be delayed. They said the statute was vague and unenforceable. Thoroughbred horse racing organizations also opposed the law when some credit card companies refused to process online parimutuel wagers, which were supposed to be exempt from the law.
The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve granted a six-month delay in December, citing efforts by Frank and others to draft new legislation. The Obama administration is officially neutral on the issue.
Frank’s proposed bill is set for committee markup in coming weeks. It would establish federal oversight of online gambling firms in exchange for five-year licenses that would include protections aimed at keeping out underaged players, compulsive gamblers and criminal activity.
Tags: internet gambling, internet gambling law, legalization, Online Poker, poker players alliance, UIGEA, unlawful internet gambling
