At the end of last month a big date for the battle to legalize online poker happened, as the House Financial Services Committee passed Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act vote of 41-22-1. This is the first time that they bill that regulates and licenses the Internet gambling industry in the United States received a positive vote on the federal level.

Just because the bill passed it does not mean Internet poker will be legalized. However, it does show that the views towards online poker are changing. Only 4 years ago Congress voted 6-1 against online gambling, as there was a lot of support for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. In last month’s vote online poker received a positive vote by almost 2-1.

Former Senator Alfonse DíAmato, chairman of the Poker Players Alliance recently stated, “The fact is, online poker is not going away. 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.”

Frank’s bill got major support from the Democrats, who voted 34-4 in support, and they also received some bi-partisan support from the Republican Party as well. The Republicans had 18 votes against the bill 7 for it.

There were 14 amendments made to Frank’s legislation, most of which were supported by the Poker Players Alliance.

The controversial additions to the bill for poker players were a couple or amendments that would keep websites that have been seen to be in violation of international gaming laws from getting licensed in the U.S. This deals with such websites like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, which are a couple of the bigger poker websites the world over. The federal law is in a gray area in terms of online gambling.

Pappas stated the PPA would support the legislation as long as these current website operators are given the chance to apply for a license. Pappas believes the websites would have the chance to make their case before regulators under the current laws that may soon take effect in regulating online poker in the U.S. He also believes the poker sites of PokerStars and Full Tilt will continue to support the legislation as well as the effort of the PPA’s efforts. Pappas stated, “It’s not our job to guarantee a license. It’s our job to guarantee an open market where everyone can apply for one.”

In the last couple of years there have been 2 big issues that lawmakers have been divided on. One is the issue of same sex marriage and the other is Internet gambling. Recently a federal judge gave those who favored same sex marriage hope and now online gambling being legalized may be next.

In California Proposition 8 banned same sex couples from getting marries, which irked many in the liberal community of the state. However, Judge Vaughn R. Walker recently overturned Prop 8, as he claimed that the law was one that was unconstitutional. The ruling garnered praise across the United States.

Internet gambling may be the next issue on the agenda and there is a good chance it may be legal soon. Washington lawmakers have already begun writing a bill that would not only make online gambling legal, but it would also regulate the industry and that would reap the US government billions of dollars.

Recently Representative Barney Frank, who has been at the forefront of making online gambling legal, passed the legislation through the House Financial Services Committee. Taking the legislation to the House is the next step and that may not happen until next year since the legislative session will be in a recess soon. After the session break is over the focus will then shift to the mid-term elections, which are slated to take place in November of this year.

The issues of same sex marriage and online gambling have had lawmakers in the U.S. in a heated debate for some time. Earlier this year legislators in California have talked about regulating the Internet gambling industry. Millions of residents in the United States already play poker online and online poker has become a billion dollar industry.

The state of California is known as a very liberal state, which is why it is a tad surprising that they banned same sex marriage from the get go. For the Internet gambling issue the Govenator Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in favor of gambling expansion for most of his time as the Governor.

Other states in the U.S. have already considered regulating the Internet gambling industry. A couple that have been aggressive in passing the regulation are Florida and New Jersey, but neither of the states have passed any laws making online gambling legal. New Jersey would like to make Internet gambling legal so it can help the struggling land based casinos in Atlantic City.

It has almost been month since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) went into effect and things seem to be going well. The law was supposed to halt gambling online by US residents by stopping the source of funding for websites, but it has not done much to slow down Internet poker gambling.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, recently stated, “I think we’ve seen very little impact on the ability of Americans to play poker on the Internet. For many Internet poker sites and players, the ill effects of the UIGEA were felt several months ago if not several years. Most sites migrated to other responsible payment systems and the players migrated to that as well.”

The Poker Players Alliance asked for its members to contact the organization if they were coming across problems withdrawing winnings because of the UIGEA, which was to only have an impact on financial transactions of Internet poker websites. Papas stated that the organization has not received a lot of complaints on the matter.

Papas said, “We’re kind of the front line. If our members have problems they e-mail us, and we haven’t really seen an uptick of complaints from our membership.”

The UIGEA has stopped any chance of credit card deposits, but Internet poker websites have changed to work around the laws. It is interesting that the websites that are having problems are ones like Internet horse ranking sites that were exempt from the UIGEA laws, but are still being overlooked by credit card companies and they did not have any other options prepared to take money from customers.

There have been meetings with representatives of the House of Financial services committee and the PPA to resolve the issue. The committee is expected to look over the Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, authored by Barney Frank, in July to see why the UIGEA is not properly working.

Even though no date has been set for the markup of the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, which Frank stated should have been done in may, a hearing will take place in July or August.

To make preparations for the vote the PPA is having a promotion to raise money. They are asking for donations, which began July 1st, and can be made at the website of the PPA. Pappas stated, “This is a historic vote and the PPA needs everything in place to do what is necessary. We’re hoping the poker community steps up and donates to the PPA to get us the funds we need to carry out a successful month of July.”

Even though it looks unlikely that there will be no legislation on the federal level to regulate Internet poker in the United States there is a politician that thinks the next 8 months will have the first state to legalize online gambling.

New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak recently stated in a phone interview, “I believe we will have established Internet gaming with poker-type games by the end of the year. It means a lot to New Jersey because we have a wealthy state and a densely populated state. It will be a big boost to the economy if we are able to get it going.”

Legislation was introduced by Lesniak in the New Jersey state senate in January of last year, which would allow casinos in Atlantic City to run online gambling websites that would have poker games and casino games for New Jersey state residents. A bill similar to this one was already introduced in the state assembly of New Jersey. There has also been a hearing on that bill in the New Jersey senate and Lesniak is planning another hearing later this spring and then there will be a vote this fall.

There is talk on the federal level that Senate Majority Leader and Nevada state senator Harry Reid could introduce another similar bill regarding online gambling regulation. A Reid backed bill may gain momentum even though it is not clear how much a bill from Reid would be endorsed by the poker community after he will not be looking out for his constituent casinos in his home state of Nevada.

Since it is already May there is no movement on the online gambling bill by Barney Frank on the federal level so it looks unlikely a bill would pass this year. The best thing that can happen is a talk about the issue on Capital Hill.

If New Jersey if online poker would become legal it may have a domino effect that may pressure the federal government to get the ball rolling on the issue.

Earlier this year Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association chairman Joe Brennan Jr. said, “If it looks like the states are going to start moving on this one by one, the federal officials might realize they have to start some sort of federal license tax or the states are going to take over and they will be cut out.”

Also, Lesniak has introduced New Jersey state legislation that would offer betting on sports and he filed a federal lawsuit that challenged the law that makes it illegal to bet on sports in every state except Montana, Oregon, Delaware, and Nevada. Lesniak has stated that he would like to get a decision on this by the end of this year so New Jersey could look further into that bill.

Full Tilt Poker and Party Poker are two of the biggest poker sites on the New today and each has recently unveiled a couple of great new promotions.

Steps Tournaments Launched at Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt Poker is happy to announce that they have launched a new Steps Tournament promotion for its players that give them a chance to win entrance into bigger buy-in poker tournaments. This allows players to win bigger prize money, as they will have to work their up the steps of various progressive poker tournaments.

The buy ins for the Steps Tournaments will be for as little as $3.30 and they are set up like regular poker tournaments, but players will be battling it out to make it to the next step of the series. If the players do not finish high enough to advance to the next step Full Tilt Poker will still be giving away seats to other tournaments. Players at Full Tilt also have the choice to buy directly into any step the want to or buy Step Tournament tickets.

The Tournament Tickets are another way that players will be able to buy into the tournament they want to play in, which will feature many options as well as a range in monetary denominations. Every Tournament Ticket is worth a pre-determined buy-in amount and then can be used to get into any poker tournament for the value of the ticket bought.

Full Tilt players can also win the tickets in the Steps Tournaments, which are satellite poker tourneys, which include the Full Tilt Steps Main Event ones, that give their players the opportunity to win an awesome $12,000 World Series of Poker Main Event Package. All this for a buy-in of only $3.30!

Party Poker to Give $1 Million for Royal Flush

OK, so a Royal Flush is not easy to get, but if you do get one while playing at Party Poker from May 4th to May 23rd and you will get a cool million. This promotion is called the Million Dollar Hand and you never know if Lady Luck will be smiling at you and deal you the lucrative hand.

The premise is simple: you will get a card for every 15 points that you get at Party Poker from May 4th to May 23rd and if you get a pair or better you will win cash. If you get a Royal Flush you will be awarded one million bucks.

There is not a limit to the amount of Royal Flushes you can get. Also, the chances are even better for you to come out on top, as the first Million Dollar Hand card that you receive will come free of charge.