Representative Barney Frank has been on the forefront of legalizing online gambling in the US. He is looking out for the millions of Americans that want to gamble over the Internet, as Frank not only wants to legalize online gambling but regulate the industry as well. However, there is a group that is not in favor of Frank’s proposed legislation.
For the most part US Attorney Generals are not in favor of any kind of online gambling regulation on a federal level. The reason for this is that if the federal government licenses Internet gaming companies to offer American residents the chance to gamble online stats may be powerless to stop it.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller recently stated, “While I recognize that Congress considers various scenarios for plugging the deficit in the federal budget. “Our concern is that licensing and taxing Internet gambling in this way would circumvent and preempt the autonomy of state government.”
Zoeller’s comments are not only his, as there have been several Attorney Generals that have made similar statements in Washington to try to make sure that they do not regulate the Internet gambling industry. However, it looks as if Washington legislators are heading to regulate the industry, as there have been studies that have shown that by doing so would reap the US government billions of dollars in tax revenue.
The states know that if the federal government is ahead of them in regulating Internet gambling they will lose out on licensing fee rights, as well as other revenue that is derived from online gambling. This is the reason that the states of Florida, California, and New Jersey are looking into their own regulations of the online gambling industry.
Another revenue generating idea that states are looking into is sports gambling. The state of Delaware has already authorized the legalization of sports gambling and New Jersey may soon follow. However, there is a law on the federal level that will prohibit the expansion of gambling on sports within the United States.
Frank will likely start online gambling talks in the House Finance Committee in the next few months. There has been speculation that Frank may have to wait until after the elections in November before he can really begin the fight to legalize Internet gambling in the US.
June 17th, 2024 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Rumors | No Comments
In 2006 the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was not a bill by itself, but part of a bigger bill dealing with port security. In 2006 lawmakers in America saw past the perils of the law and in the House the UIGEA was passed by a vote of 317-93. Of the majority vote more than a third came from Democrats.
Legislators in the US that have become more knowledgeable about the online gambling industry will not look to overturn the UIGEA. The House Ways and Means Committee will have the first chance to change the law, as they will he a proposal from Representative Jim McDermott.
In McDermott’s proposal online gambling would be taxed in America and is a part of a bigger legislation from Representative Barney Frank. The bigger bill would not only legalize online gambling, but it would also create the blueprint for regulating the online gambling industry in the U.S.
When the UIGEA was passed in 2006 there was less info available to the lawmakers about the online gambling issue. Since then there have been studies that have shown that the United States would reap billions of dollars in taxes from the gambling revenue.
Since the U.S. economy is struggling right now the billions of dollars would be of great help. McDermott has stated that he has come up with tons of ideas on how to increase revenue and that taxing the Internet gambling industry was the best one.
A major complaint against Internet gambling is the problems that may arise from more options for gambling. However, supporters of the legislation that Frank has proposed have seen how the Internet gambling industry has taken measures to protect underage gambling and curb problem gambling. These days there are many safeguards that are in place at Internet gambling websites.
Millions of residents of the United States already gamble over the Internet. Lawmakers in American, unlike a few years back, now know that cannot keep gamblers from finding ways to gamble over the Net. Frank thinks this is yet another reason why the online gambling industry should be a regulated one, as U.S. residents will feel ok with putting their money in gambling accounts that are government regulated.
The landscape has changed politically in the past few years in the nation’s capital and that may help push through the regulation of the online gambling industry. Currently, the House and the Senate are controlled by the Democrats and there are also Republicans that are aware their votes will have ramifications for the elections this fall. Because of these reasons the online gambling industry has a good shot at becoming legalized and regulated in the not too distant future.
May 19th, 2024 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Rumors | No Comments
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.
May 9th, 2024 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker, Rumors | No Comments
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.
April 30th, 2024 | Posted in News, Poker, Promotions | No Comments
Representative Barney Frank has been at the forefront of trying to repeal the online gambling ban and now he may have another weapon in his arsenal to do so. There has been a recent study done by H2 Gambling Capital that showed that around 32,000 jobs could be created if the United States were to legalize and regulate the Internet gambling industry.
Frank has already introduced legislation that would regulate Internet gambling in the United States. There is also another bill that would also do away with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which was made a law in the Bush Administration back in 2006.
The H2 Gambling Capital is a group that is seen as one of the best in their field in terms of both collecting and looking into data for the gambling industry around the world. Since the unemployment rate continues to increase in the United States the group has stated that within a period of 5 years there may be up to 32,000 jobs that would be created by the Inter gambling industry.
As it stands now, companies that are set up offshore deal with most of the gambling market in the United States. Companies cannot get legal gaming licenses in the United States, since the UIGEA is in effect, so US gamblers must gamble at these unregulated websites in order to play. Frank has stated that the US Government has to protect American citizens against these websites, which are not regulated and are really not legal for US players.
It has been planned that the House Financial Committee would be talking about the legislation Frank put forth, but the hearing was delayed until a later time, as there are more important issues on the docket. Frank and the people who believe in his cause will have to wait until June of this year for the legislation to be heard and passed and if it is passed the UIGEA rules would be more clear and come into effect.
Besides the jobs that would be created by the regulation of Internet gambling in the United States, the US Government would reap billions of dollars. There has already been a study performed that has shown this. There will be various gaming and financial experts that will take part in the legislative discussions that will show the effect that regulating the Internet gambling industry will have on America.
Not only does it look like the Federal government will reap the benefits of legal Internet gambling, but many states would as well, which is why online gaming may be legalized on the state level before the federal one.
April 22nd, 2024 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Rumors | No Comments
House Speaker Robert DeLeo is not hurting for any supporters in his aim to try to bring land-based casinos to the state of Massachusetts. One of his biggest and most influential supporters is state Governor Duval Patrick. However, the governor is not in favor of the latest effort from DeLeo.
Recently DeLeo introduced a bill that would bring 2 brand new casinos to Massachusetts. The racing industry in the state, which is really going through major financial problems, may get a huge economic boost, as, in the bill, they would be allowed to have slot machines installed at the racetrack. However, that is where the support for the bill ends. Patrick is not a happy camper, to say the least, since there will not be any hearings in the public where the bill will be discussed. In the bill there is also wording that would make it illegal for residents of the state of Massachusetts to play poker for money over the Internet.
Massachusetts’s lawmakers have been discussing the expansion of gambling in the state for several months. Recently there has been quite a stir about the kind of legislation that DeLeo would be introducing. Unfortunately for him it does not look like the bill will get much backing from other politicians.
Governor Patrick has been trying to bring land-based casinos in Massachusetts since he became elected. His first try was blocked Salvatore DiMasi, who was the House Speaker in the state before DeLeo. DeMesi did everything in his power to block gambling in the state, as he was firmly against it. At the time he convinced other lawmakers in Massachusetts to vote in opposition of the proposal Patrick brought forth.
There looked as if there would be some momentum this year towards having gambling expanded in the state. DeLeo, Patrick, and Senate President Therese Murray are all for gambling expansion. However, all three do not see eye-to-eye as how the expansion in the state should occur.
The Internet gambling industry will keep a close eye on the bill in Massachusetts that is up for debate. There are many states in America that are looking into regulating and legalizing the online gambling industry. If DeLeo’s bill would pass it will be interesting to see how governments of other states look upon it and if they will follow the New England states’ lead.
The more states that regulate and legalize online gambling the more likely it is that it will happen on the national level.
April 10th, 2024 | Posted in Casinos, Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker | No Comments
Online Gambling Bill Introduced To Aid Foster Care
U.S. Representative Jim McDermott has recently upgraded proposed legislation from last year, which would tax Internet gambling in the United States. The tax revenues would go towards foster care in the United States.
In the new proposal both state and tribal governments would get 6% of Internet gambling taxes coming from residents in their states. The glaring health care need brought about this recent change of legislation.
In many states social services have been drastically cut, as there is simply a lack of money in budgets in states across the U.S. The new bill would let states gain from legal online gambling, which currently goes on but not taxed.
McDermott recently stated, “The major reason is to make it possible for states to have access to online gambling revenue.”
At the end of 2006 a Republican dominated Congress approved the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIEGA). This law puts the burden on financial institutions in the United States to half Internet gambling in the country. The institutions have to deny payment to and from operators of Internet gambling websites.
The UIGEA rules were to go into effect in December of last year, but Representative Barney Frank, as well as other politicians that opposed the law, was successful in lobbying to have the rule delayed 6 months. Frank has introduced legislation, which would overturn the UIGEA and give a blueprint for regulating the Internet gambling industry in the United States. As of late March Frank has 65 co-sponsors for the legislation, but the bill has not yet been formally discussed.
Owners of Net Gambling Websites come Forward in Kentucky Court Case
The Supreme Court gave the state of Kentucky a reprieve in ruling that the website domain name court case could not proceed, as there were no website owners present. The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association were representing the websites in court.
However, the Supreme Court ruled that there was not any evidence that the Media Entertainment and Gaming Association did not have any authority to represent the Internet gambling websites. The court ruled that for the case to go forward one of the website owners must be present and say they were an iMEGA member. This recently happened when the owners of TruePoker.com, Yatahay Limited, stated they were an iMEGA member. This gives the iMEGA the right to inquire if the Supreme Court can hear the case again.
That occurred this week when Yatahay Limited, the owners of TruePoker.com, acknowledged being a member of iMEGA. That assertion gives iMEGA the right to go back and ask that the case be sent back to the Supreme Court.
Joe Brennan, iMEGA Chairman stated, “The Commonwealth’s attorneys knew they were lucky to get this one into overtime.”
The next step may bring an end to the legal proceedings. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the iMEGA and the Internet gambling websites then the state of Kentucky would not be allowed to seize the domain names. iMEGA stressed the importance of a quick ruling in the case. They are under the belief that if the domain names were to be seized it could have bigger and more reaching implementations for the Internet.
March 31st, 2024 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Rumors | No Comments
Even though it is the case that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) will go into effect until June of this year there are already big credit card companies that have already halted the process of Internet gambling transactions. Visa, which is the biggest credit card supplier in the United States, has recently stopped the transactions, but they are not the only major card company to do so.
The first big credit card company to stop online gambling transactions was MasterCard. However, that, obviously, did not have an effect on people that use Visa. Now there are millions of Internet gamblers in the United States that will not be able to gamble online using their Visa cards.
U.S. Representative Barney Frank, who has been on the forefront of legalizing and regulating Internet gambling, has one goal, which is to repeal the UIGEA. He has already got the support of many US lawmakers and he has also been successful in lobbying the US Treasury Department in December of last year in order to delay the publishing of the unclear rules of the UIGEA until this June.
The main focus of Barney Frank’s Financial Committee has been the slumping economy, the Massachusetts representative has not had the time in order to talk about the online gambling legislation he will propose. June is not far off so he will have to get on the ball in order to get the Bill passed. He does have a lot of support in Congress to get the UIGEA overturned and there was a study done that showed that if the UIGEA were repealed and the online gambling industry was regulated that it would reap the US government billions of dollars.
It may be the case that frank asks the Treasury Department for another delay. If that delay were to be granted frank would likely have until the end of this year in order to pass his, yet to be proposed, legislation.
In the meantime major credit card companies have decided to abide by the current laws of the UIGEA. The decision by MasterCard to halt online gambling transactions was a bit of a surprise. Now Visa and MasterCard are taking risks in their resent stance.
Internet gamblers will still find a way to play, but they will have to find another way to fund their Internet casino accounts. One of the most popular methods is e-wallet accounts. However, the credit card companies may lose millions of dollars with their recent decision.
March 24th, 2024 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker | No Comments
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, 2024 | 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, 2024 | Posted in Gambling Thoughts, News, Poker, Rumors | No Comments
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