Congressional Baby Steps
Monday, March 8th, 2010The pen has finally been put to the paper in regards to overturning the UIGEA of 2006, the law that prevents banks from funding gambling ventures for online poker players in the United States.
Since congress has reconvened, a bill has been introduced called “The Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regualtion, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act.” Yeah, I know it’s a mouthful, so to shorten it down, it’s been dubbed the i-Poker act.
This is a Senatorial companion bill to Barney Frank’s bill in the House of Representatives, and it’s both more and less in terms of specificity.
It is very specific in the games that it covers: online poker, chess, backgammon, bridge, and mah-jong. But the problem that congress is having is how to define poker online for the scope of the bill. The current working definition is any game that is commongly referred to as poker where two players are wagering and playing against each other and not the operator of the game. But this has the potential to be misconstrued similarly to the bingo debacle that ensued after the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
However, in other areas it is very clear in it’s language. Within the first 90 days, anyone who applies for a license won’t be denied despite the fact that they took bets in the US prior to the bill’s passage.
Of course this is just a rough draft, but it is one step in the right direction to getting US players back in the market of playing online and not fearing fund seizure or criminal charges. Let’s just hope Congress will act steadfast in passing this with clarity and consensus.