Last year, poker fans in the United States sat with fingers crossed hoping that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–Nev., pictured) and long-time poker foe Senator Jon Kyl (R–Ariz.) could work some magic and get a Federal bill passed that would legalize and regulate online poker. Not only did a bill not pass, it never got introduced, and the dreams of reviving the online game in the U.S. fizzled.---
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This week, though, American Gaming Association Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf told Jim Ralston on the Nevada political news/talk television program “Ralston Reports” that he believes another bill could be introduced in Congress soon. He is not looking for Reid to be the one to do it, though, as it looks like, at least for now, Reid has his sights set on more pressing issues in the Senate. He quoted Reid as saying that getting something passed right now in the Senate is like “threading a needle.”
Fahrenkopf went on to say, however, “I think that we may see one quite soon in the House… There’s still an effort in the House.”
He continued, “Plus, I think the activity of a number of states, particularly Delaware, where they… have authorized all forms of casino games through their state lottery, and they’re hoping to go onboard by September 30th of this year. So, when I said a long time ago that as a result of the change in the Justice Department’s position, we could see the largest expansion of legal gaming in this country’s history, if states start to emulate what Delaware’s doing, I think that’s what will happen. And I think there are some members of Congress who normally are very anti-gaming who view a poker bill as the lesser of a lot of evils. So, I’m still hopeful that we can get something done.”
When asked by Ralston who would be the person to carry an online gambling bill in the House, Fahrenkopf pointed to Rep. Joe Barton (R–Tex., pictured), who has done so before. Fahrenkopf said that Barton is doing some “spade work” with other members of Congress to see where he might be able to go with such a bill.According to Fahrenkopf, initial movement on the matter could happen quickly, possibly as soon as the next two weeks.
The conversation then shifted to the possibility of interstate gaming compacts. There are a couple of bills that have been introduced in the Nevada state legislature that would authorize the Governor to make deals with other states. There has also been talk in Delaware about compacts with not just other states, but also other countries.
Fahrenkopf warned that interstate compacts might not be as easy as they look, saying, “There’s one little thing that’s involved in this, and that is that most people don’t realize Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution… provides that interstate compacts must be approved by Congress.”
He added, “Now, historically what has happened… Congress has just ignored them and they’ve gone forward without any action. But when you’ve got something, a hot issue like gaming, you can be very sure that either the right or left, someone could say, ‘Well, we wanna, Congress wants to debate it.”
As for whether or not a Federal online gaming bill will be passed this year, Fahrenkopf said he is “hopeful,” but “it’s harder than it was last year, and it was a long shot last year.”
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