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 HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, passed the House Financial Services Committee by a vote of 41-22 on Wednesday. The results mark a small but important victory for the poker community as it moves one step closer to legalization and regulation.
The bill will now be sent to the House of Representatives for a few more amendments and will face another vote sometime next month. Should the bill get the majority from the House of Representatives, it will move along to the Senate for another majority vote, before it can be signed into law by the President.
Wednesday's victory was just the first of what poker fans hope to be many and the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) was very optimistic about the results.
"The fact is, online poker is not going away," said Alfonse D'Amato, chairman of the PPA. "Congress has a choice - it can license and regulate it to provide government oversight and consumer protections, or our lawmakers can stick their heads in the sand, ignore it, and leave consumers to play on non-U.S. regulated websites in all 50 states. I'm glad the Financial Services Committee today overwhelmingly chose to act and protect Americans as well as preserve the fundamental freedoms of adults and the Internet."
The committee spent several hours amending HR 2267 on Wednesday. Several modifications have been made to the bill including the implementation of technologies to protect against underage gambling, and requirements to ensure that bettors can't use credit cards to gamble online.
"We commend the lawmakers who helped make H.R. 2267 stronger through a variety of consumer protection mandates," said John Pappas, PPA executive director. "In particular, we thank Representatives John Campbell, Mary Jo Kilroy, and Melissa Bean for their thoughtful additions to the bill and their interest in preserving the rights of adult poker players in their districts."
One of area of great concern for players and major poker networks is the first amendment. It restricts sites that have intentionally broken Internet gaming laws from getting a license to conduct business in the United States. The amendment, which was introduced by Congressman Brad Sherman will likely affect larger and more popular poker sites such as PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Ultimate Bet which offer their services to players from the U.S.
In a press release following the hearing, the PPA had the following to say on the amendment, "There is still much work to be done and areas of policy in this bill that must still be addressed. To be clear, despite the concerns of some of our members, nothing in the Committee-passed legislation precludes lawful Internet poker-only operators whom U.S. players know and trust today from the opportunity to operate under a regulated system. The PPA will work with House and Senate lawmakers to ensure that the final legislation produces the best regulated online gaming environment for the consumer."
Stay tuned for more updates on the bill's progress on Capitol Hill.
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