There have been rumors that Florida may be one of the first states that would regulate Internet gambling. Recently, state Representative Joseph Abruzzo filed the Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010.
The legislation shows a regulated system of Internet gambling in the state of Florida. If the legislation is approved the state would be the first to use the rules of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in order to aid in regulating online gambling. The UIGEA was passed to get rid of online gambling in the United States, but in the last few years online gambling has grown and not shrunk.
There is a clause in the UIGEA that lets states regulate and conduct intra-state online gambling by law. The legislation of Abruzzo takes advantage of the clause. The bill that was recently filed would let operators of Internet hubs to run Internet poker websites. To get a license operators of the hubs would have to be hand picked by Florida and there are strict guidelines in the bill that would have to be adhered to.
First, the hub operator must have a business license in the state of Florida. Second, the operator must be licensed in more than one state. Third, the operator has to be licensed to offer Internet poker in a country outside of the United States.
If these guidelines were met there would then be a $500,000 application fee that must be paid to the Pari-Mutuel Wagering Trust Fund of the Department of Business and Professional Regulations. If the application is approved the operator would have to pay an annual license fee of $1,000.
When the Internet poker website is set up there are stringent rules in the proposal of Abruzzo. The minimum gambling age would be 21 and this safeguards against both underage gambling as well as money laundering. The online hub operators also have to fully insure all of the software that is being used on the site.
Safeguards for the online players have been a main reason that US Representative Barney Frank has proposed legislation to overturn the UIGEA. There are currently millions of Americans that are gambling over the Internet at websites that are not regulated by the American government.
In the state of Florida and person attempting to get a license has to make sure that the player online is protected against fraud. One of the big problems for lawmakers that are looking to legalize online gambling is addiction to gambling and Abruzzo has that taken care of in his recent proposed Bill.
The Internet hubs have to have limits on the amount of deposits and how much money a player is allowed to deposit daily. Also, a limit has to be placed on how much money a player online can lose in a certain amount of time. There will also be a time limit placed on how long a player can gamble.
Another issue that lawmakers are dealing with is the percentage of taxes on the winnings. In the Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010, Abruzzo has set a plan for 20% of the winnings every month that will go to paying taxes.
If the recent legislation will be passed remains to be seen, but it will depend on the ability of the lawmakers to foresee the financial potential and to come to a middle ground on the differences they have on the issue of online gambling.
Abruzzo has laid out a good Bill that covers all the aspects that makes most bills get thrown out, which may make Florida the first state in the United States where online gambling would be regulated and legal.
March 4th, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker, Rumors | No Comments
Many states have been discussing making online gambling, especially online poker, legal in their states. However, they keep running into federal laws that make gambling over the Internet illegal. However, the state of Iowa has come up with an idea that may make it legal to gambling online in the state. Iowa is also looking into making sports gambling legal is the state.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 has really hindered plans of lawmakers in the United States that want to not only legalize, but regulate the Internet gambling industry in their state. They may want to take a close look at the Iowa plan that would go around the federal laws that are currently on the books.
U.S. Representative is one of group of 7 people that is trying to expand gambling in the state of Iowa. He knows, and has stated as such, that gambling is going to stay in Iowa and he is under the belief that the state should be the leader when it comes to the online gambling industry in the United States.
When he recently talked about the proposal that may come out of the 7-member group that will be discussed next week in a House State Government Committee hearing Quirk stated, “Look, either we’re a gambling state, or we’re not, and with seventeen casinos I’d say we’re a gambling state.”
One of the ideas that the group, and other, is how to work their way around the laws of the UIGEA, which makes it an illegal act for financial institutions from taking part in any Internet gambling transactions. It looks as if the group Quirk is working with and other lawmakers may have now come up with a plan that might just work.
Gamblers would be able to go into casinos in the state where they reside to open up an account and then deposit money into. They would then be allowed to bet over the Internet with the money that is in the casino account. This would skirt the law, as obviously casinos are not financial institutions.
The one main catch with this plan is how the person would get paid and how would they be able to withdraw their funds. Under the current plan, which is still being worked on, a player would go back to the casino to deposit more funds into their account or collect what they have won being paid from their accounts.
Making sports betting legal in the state of Iowa may be harder within the government of the state. There are a lot of lawmakers that are very opposed to any type of sports gambling being legal. Mary Mascher, who is the Chair of the Government Committee, has already made the threat to remove any sports wagering language in any gambling bill that is presented to the committee.
February 21st, 2010 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker, Rumors | No Comments
A letter from a FBI top official to U.S. Representative Spencer Bachus stated that cheating while playing poker over the Internet can happen in several ways. The Bachus, who is a leader in the anti-gambling political community, is gathering all the evidence he can find in order to try to attempt to slow down the momentum that is coming together for the legalization and regulation of Internet gambling. Bachus recently revealed the letter at the hearing on Internet gaming held by the House Financial Services Committee.
FBI Assistant Director penned the letter back on November 13th of last year in charge of the cyber division Shawn Henry. He has stated that players that play poker online can work together as well as exploit technology in order to artificially affect the results when playing over the Internet.
Henry wrote in his letter, “There are several ways to cheat at online poker, none of which are legal. The online poker vendors could detect this activity and put in place safeguards to discourage cheating, although it is unclear what the incentive would be for the vendor.”
Regulation of Internet gambling may require a gambling websites, which are licensed, to use some type of cyber-technology that would guard against fraud. This is expected to be done by gambling websites, if online gambling were to become legal, so that money laundering would be thwarted and persons that are underage would not be able to gamble.
Cheating while playing Internet poker on two of the leading poker websites, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, was brought to light by players that observed some irregularities. These players documented the unlikely play and the results and eventually showed that there was corrupted software was used by the gambling websites.
Obviously, it is the case that operators that have websites that are protected well against cheating, as well as money laundering and underage gambling, would be able to draw more business to their sites as opposed to sites that could not have verification that their games are honest ones.
January 25th, 2010 | Posted in News, Poker | No Comments
Lawmakers in many states in America have been in discussions on whether or not to legalize Internet poker in their states. California is one of the big states that is mulling over the idea and recently New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak introduced a bill in the Garden State that would not only make Internet poker legal in the state, but other casino gambling games as well.
One of the main reasons that Lesniak is pushing the bill ahead of the federal government in making online poker legal is that he wants to make sure that gaming operators in the state of New Jersey have the first shot to get gaming customers in the state. One thing that is in Lesniak’s bill is that the online companies that offer gambling online has to be located in Atlantic City, which is the land-based casino capital on the East Coast.
The Internet casino industry would operate much like the land based casino industry in Atlantic City. Both the age requirements as well as the game rules would be copied after the Atlantic Casino industry. The proposed bill to legalize online gambling in New Jersey has been welcomed news by those that are looking to overturn the ban in the United States.
In a recent press release Joe Brennan, who is the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association Chairman, stated, “We’re happy that New Jersey has taken this issue into their own hands. New Jersey is recognized as having the toughest gaming regulators in the US, but as a leading gaming state with a long track record of doing things the right way, Internet gambling will have a great home here and the opportunity to begin normalizing the industry.”
As stated before New Jersey is not alone, as there are other states that are looking into legalizing gambling in their jurisdictions. Lawmakers in California have been in serious discussions and if the laws proposed are approved Internet poker, but not other gambling games, would be legalized and regulated in the state.
On the federal level U.S. Representative Barney Frank, who has been the main lawmaker to push the legalization and regulation of online poker, has introduced legislation to Congress that would overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). Frank’s proposed bill is gaining momentum with other lawmakers, as 64 of them have already signed onto the bill.
In Lesniak’s proposed bill in New Jersey Internet poker would be legal, but other games that would be legal would be slots, craps, blackjack, and roulette as well as other gambling games that can be played at land-based casinos.
January 18th, 2010 | Posted in Casinos, Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker | No Comments
California is known as being one of the more liberal states in America. This is why it is not surprising at all that lawmakers from the state of California will begin discussions about being the first state to legalize Internet gambling in the United States.
The Governmental Organization Committee, which is mainly responsible for laws dealing with gambling in California, will start talks in February about the legalization and regulation of online gambling. Chairman of the committee Roderick Wright has recently confirmed that these discussions will take place and the main topic will be about Internet poker.
California does not have a lot of wiggling room to bring more than the game of poker to Internet gamblers. The state has quite a few compacts with Indian tribes that involve gambling in land-based casinos and any foray into the Internet gaming market would have to be approved by the tribes before it is regulated and legalized.
One tribe that is in favor of the legalization and regulation of online gambling is the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. This tribe is a leading casino provider in the state of California and their view of the issue will carry a lot of weight with other state tribes.
If it is the case that California changes their laws to include Internet poker regulations it is probable that the Indian tribes would first want the chance to go online. It is a distinct possibility, in terms of gambling revenue, that it will be beneficial to both the state and the Indian tribes in the state.
The Internet gambling issue is one of the more popular and debated issues in the country these days. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIEGA) has been at the center of many of those discussions and debates.
US Representative Barney Frank has proposed legislation that would overturn the UIGEA as well as set up a special foundation that would regulate the Internet gambling industry in the United States. Frank, and many others who support the legalization of the online gambling industry, recently scored a victory for their cause by having the rules for the UIGEA, which were to go in effect on December 1, 2009, delayed until next June.
The talks in California dealing, mainly, with online poker will be watched closely by other states and by lawmakers at the national level. If online poker is legalized and regulated in the state it becomes more likely that it will happen at the national level as well.
January 9th, 2010 | Posted in Casinos, Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker, Rumors | No Comments
In the last few months Internet poker has found an ally, and a surprising one in its attempt to be licensed and regulated in the United States.
Poker and horse racing share quite a few things in common, as they are both games that can be bet on and hours are spent looking at results in order to get a competitive edge. However, the games were at odds with each other back in 2006 when Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).
Horse racing had a lobby that was long established on Capital Hill and that allowed it to secure it with state lotteries and fantasy football in terms of regulation. Poker was just starting to build some presence in the Nation’s Capital, but they lacked any real influence in order to fight.
While horse racing was legal and online poker was not it did not look as if the two industries would ever be friendly. However, it is a tad ironic that the two industries would become partners thanks to the Department of Justice DOJ).
Horse racing won their victory in Congress back in 2000 and that is the same fight online poker is dealing with now. In 2000 Congress amended the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978 that would include wagers transmitted by telephone or other electronic means. However, the DOJ insisted that the Wire Act outlawed wagers made on horse racing online. The Wire Act is the exact same law that the DOJ is currently using to make the argument that playing poker online for money is illegal.
While it is the case that the DOJ had not moved on the horse racing industry the threat they used was enough where lobbyists for horse racing saw a chance in the new bills to both license and regulate the Internet poker industry in the U.S.
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) teamed up with the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and was at the table when the bill penned by Sen. Robert Menendez was drafted. The Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regulation, Protection and Enforcement Act has provisions in the bill that would make it more clear that providers of financial transactions will be safe from processing bets under the Interstate Horseracing Act and also that horse racing would not be taxed two times or over-regulated under the legislation.
As a result of the hazards of both banks and credit card companies over-blocking transactions on horse race betting under the UIGEA, the NTRA teamed up with the PPA in order to petition both the US Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Board to delay the date of compliance for the regulations. 6 members of Congress from the state of Kentucky, which is a state that is enamored with horse racing yet is no friend of poker, penned a letter that was in full support of the petition. This was one o the main reasons for the delay of 6 months.
John Pappas, who is the PPA executive director, said of the NTRA,
“They’ve been tremendously helpful. I know they did a lot of outreach to members of Congress. They delivered at least a few letters to the Treasury and Federal Reserve Board that the PPA alone couldn’t have secured. I think they’ve added a whole lot. We look forward to working with them.”
In seeing that the lobbyists of horse racing have a strong influence on Capital Hill the PPA will attempt to get Representative Barney Frank to make changes on his bill in Congress that will show the provisions of horse racing in the Senate bill before a markup to the bill in the Financial Services Committee. The horseracing lobby will be a solid ally to online poker in attempting to get this legislation through.
Pappas stated, “The horse-racing guys need our support and we need their support.”
December 19th, 2009 | Posted in News, Poker | No Comments
Recently the U.S. Department of Treasury and Federal Reserve Board announced that they would extend the compliance day for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) were very happy with the decision.
The extension is a victory for online poker and the PPA, which had submitted the petition for the extension. The recent ruling will allow Congress to revise the act letting them clear up the definition of unlawful online gambling in terms of distinguishing it from the game of poker.
Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, who is now the chairman of the PPA recently stated, “The PPA is extremely pleased with the decision by the Federal Reserve and Treasury to grant the six month extension. This is a great victory for poker, but an even greater victory for advocates of good and fair public policy. These additional months are critical to provide legislators time to clarify UIGEA and pass legislation to license and regulate poker early next year.”
Executive director of the PPA John Pappas stated that he believes the 6 month extension, instead of the year that the PPA has originally wanted, would help poker’s cause, as it would give Congress a sense of urgency in those who want the online poker industry in the U.S. to be legalized and regulated. Pappas said,
“I think it will it will force Congress to act quickly on this rather than drag their heals thinking they can deal with this later because they have a year. Hopefully we’ll have some movement in the House and Senate. If there’s good progress being shown, we’re hopeful we would be granted another delay.”
Internet poker main advocate in Congress is Representative Barney Frank and he helped get the extension and he also scheduled a House Financial Services Committee hearing to discuss various bills dealing with online poker such as the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act and the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. Frank recently stated, “This will give us a chance to act in an unhurried manner on my legislation to undo this regulatory excess by the Bush administration and to undo this ill-advised law,” Frank said in a statement.
The PPA and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the American Greyhound Track Operators Association filed a joint petition for the extension back on September 18th of this year. In the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Board ruling on the matter they said they had received letters of support for the extension by financial institutions, associations that represent financial institutions, and members of Congress.
In the past few years Internet poker had been vilified in Congress, but it seems that the tide is turning, as many experts believe it is just a matter of time before online poker is a legal and regulated industry in the U.S.
Pappas stated, “I think we’ve had a lot of smaller victories that led to a change in how Congress views our issue, but I think this might be our biggest single, changing moment. This really puts it squarely on the shoulders of Congress to do something during this period of delay, and we’re hoping we can get some quick action. That’s why I think the timing of Frank’s hearing next week couldn’t be better.”
December 13th, 2009 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker, Rumors | No Comments
It seems inevitable, even though hearings on the issue has recently been delayed, that Internet gambling will be legalized and regulated in the United States. However, investors will have to find out before everyone else does when that will happen and so far they think that it will not be happening anytime soon.
Recently, there was a big win for the online gambling industry in terms of the future of Internet gambling in the United States market, but it doesn’t mean that investors are waiting in the wings to invest their money.
One company that may make many millions of dollars in generated revenue if Internet poker was regulated in the United Stats is Zynga Inc. Zynga Inc. Currently the company runs the biggest Texas Holdem application on the very popular Facebook web page, which is the choice of many people in the U.S. for their social networking online. The current system that in use on Facebook, in terms of online poker, lets members play against each other, but the money is not real but virtual and it can never be turned into real cold hard cash.
If Internet poker becomes regulated and legalized in the United States, Facebook may make millions, maybe even billions, as they could allow members to play for real money. There are other companies that have been getting ready for the legalization of online gambling as well.
PartyGaming, which currently is the highest-traded gaming stock on the stock exchange in London, recently settled a case against them in the United States. Now PartyGaming is in a great position to get back into the U.S, market after they left it back in 2006 when online gambling became illegal. If that happen the stocks of PartyGaming may not just get larger on the London Stock Exchange, but could also get their stock to be traded in the U.S. market as well.
Both gaming companies and possible gaming companies are watching the clock to when the online gambling industry will become legalized and regulated in the United States. If the laws change soon these types of companies may have no limit to the amount of money they could make and that is exactly what investors are anxiously waiting for.
November 29th, 2009 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker | No Comments
There were a couple of articles published in the media recently that were in favor of the legalization and regulation of Internet poker in the United States. These are articles were not from gambling publications or non-mainstream publications, but rather a couple of the biggest newspapers in the country in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
The articles were not simply covering a court case on the bill to legalize poker, but they were written by respected columnists that had their say on the issue and both understand the core of the issue, which still seems to be unclear by members of Congress.
Columnist Michael Hilztik recently wrote in the Times, “It’s fair to say that the American approach to Internet gambling, which is legal in much of the rest of the world, is absurd.”
George F. Will recently wrote in the Post, “Congress probably should fold its interference with Internet gambling and certainly should get its 10 thumbs off Americans’ freedom to exercise their poker skills online.”
Poker advocates could not have written any better statements and it is not a coincidence that both papers spoke to the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).
John Pappas, executive director of the PPA, recently stated, “I think we see pockets of interest from the national media on this issue. I wouldn’t say the tide is turning because it’s always seemed the media understood this issue a whole lot better than Congress, that licensing and regulation is far superior than prohibition. Media has been there for a while, and we hope that it’s going lead to changing minds on Capitol Hill.”
The PPA is taking a lot from these articles, as they have made many copies of them and every single time a representative of the PPA meets with a member of Congress they leave a packet of these articles with them.
George F. Will, who is seen as a Republican columnist, made his article very useful in trying to persuade Republican members of Congress, which is the main group that poker advocates need to convince to legalize and regulate the online poker industry. There are many articles published by poker publications and smaller regional newspapers, but they do not get the national attention that can have a bigger influence on Congress.
Pappas stated, “It obviously helps when you go into (government) offices and can show articles from major publications. But smaller stories in hometown papers are great for congressmen because those are the papers their constituents read. A combination of both, hometown stories and national high-profile stories, works best.”
Typically opinion publications in the media reflect the views of the public, which is the main reason that Congress pays attention to them. Once members of Congress come to the realization that many, who elect the officials, people want to legalize Internet poker in the U.S. then legislation may happen.
November 8th, 2009 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker, Rumors | No Comments
Many, including US Representative Barney Frank, have been saying that online gambling regulations in the United States would reap billions to the government. Those billions would help in some of the spending that is taking place in Washington these days and some have said it could aid in the new health care reform.
Recently Representative Jim McDermott released an analysis from the Joint Committee of Taxation and the analysis backed up the claims of Frank, and others that want online gambling to be regulated. McDermott’s analysis was that by the regulating the Internet gambling industry in the United States would bring in around $42 billion within the first decade.
Michael Waxman, who is the Spokesman for the Safe and secure Internet Gambling Initiative, recently stated, “This analysis further reinforces the fact that a regulated environment will generate billions in new revenue to offset the costs of health care reform or other vital government programs.”
Waxman, and others, are under the belief that many people that are opposed to the regulation of the online gambling industry in America are worried about is that the support for legalizing and regulating online gambling is increasing. Frank ahs already introduced legislation in Congress and his bill already has 62 co-sponsors. However, with other more pressing items on the agenda, such as the health care issue and Afghanistan, that the bill will not be heard this year.
Waxman went onto to say, “With the completed analysis, and support for Internet gambling regulation growing daily, it’s only a matter of time before Congress acts and begins allocating the billions in new revenue sitting on the table to one program or another.”
Preparations are under way by Frank to have his bill discussed in Congress. There are some that are under the belief that the Bill will be passed by Frank’s House Committee by the end of this year, but that looks unlikely. This snowballing of online gambling legalization and regulation has had some politicians that are set against the idea to come up with a plan in order to defeat the Bill when it is introduced.
Since so much money will be generated for the US Government many experts believe that it is only a matter of time before Internet gambling is, once again, legal in the United States.
October 30th, 2009 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker, Rumors | No Comments
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