US Moves on Online Gambling

0 Comments   Email   Print

The politics news portal National Journal reports of fresh moves gathering momentum in order to push for legislation to establish a regulatory framework for online gambling. It all began with the passage of Barney Frank’s HR 2267 in the House Financial Services Committee last month.

In March 2010 Democrat House Representative from Washington, Jim McDermott, had introduced the bill HR 4976, which was named the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2010. This was a companion bill to the HR 2267. Whereas HR 2267 focuses on the regulatory framework, HR 4976 authorizes amendments to the Internal Revenue Code so as to impose taxes and fees on online gambling and also demarcates how the collected taxes are to be spent. This bill was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee for discussion and mark up.

Now that HR 2267 has cleared its committee, McDermott is pushing House Representative Sander Levin to schedule a mark up hearing for HR 4976. Levin is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. According to the National Journal report Levin has not decided whether HR 4976 should be marked up. In the case of HR 2267 this task was much easier because Frank was both the bill’s sponsor and the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. This mark up is important because then the House discussion on both bills can be held simultaneously and a full floor vote be scheduled before the House takes the October break to campaign for the November elections. Since the issues in both bills are largely common a simultaneous hearing would avoid duplication and consequent delays.

Ultimately both bills will have to be passed by the Senate as well and there Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid holds the key. It is said that the bills cannot pass the Senate unless they have his support. Reid hails from Nevada, which is the home of the land casinos. He has in the past made it clear that he will not take any steps that will harm the interests of the land casinos or take away jobs from Nevada. Since the land casino lobby has been divided on the issue Reid has been sitting on the fence. Now the Reno Gazette-Journal has reported that Reid has expressed his willingness to support a limited form of online gambling legislation. He has said yes to regulated online poker only but would still oppose other forms of online gambling like casino, bingo and sports betting. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Reid made this announcement while addressing Nevada casino executives at a meeting at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa. This should end the seesaw reports that have been emanating in the various press forums about which way Senator Reid will swing.

Whether Frank and McDermott will accept online poker legislation only is another story. Incidentally the powerful sports bodies had forced Frank to drop sports betting from the purview of HR 2267.

News Item Tools

 Email     Print     Digg     Del.icio.us    StumbleUpon

Comments

 Add Comment

Add Comment

More News