If you’ve been paying attention to our feature articles here on PocketFives, then you know that two Congressional hearings were held last week about the future of online poker in the United States. On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs tackled the topic, while on Friday, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade held its second hearing on internet gambling in the last four weeks.
“The hearings were great for us,” Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Vice President of Player Relations Rich TheEngineer Muny told PocketFives this week. “They were also completely different. The October House subcommittee hearing didn’t mention anything about the morality of playing poker. Last week, Frank Wolf (R-VA, pictured) talked about morality, but his points didn’t connect with anyone. No one really referenced his comments throughout the rest of the hearing. Everyone else was talking about how we’re going to regulate it.”Wolf’s testimony read in part, “I know that many members of this committee are aware of my strong concerns about the spread of gambling in our society. I could spend all day cataloging story after story of ruined families, bankruptcies, suicides, and official corruption. Gambling is a dangerous activity and study after study has shown that for many in our society, there is no question that it is strongly addictive.”
By the way, Wolf’s home state allows online lottery purchases and is currently touting tickets as “perfect gifts” for the holiday season.
Monday night was the deadline for a bipartisan Supercommittee to submit recommendations for trimming the record budget deficit in the United States. Many in the industry had contended that online poker taxation could serve as a pay-for in the Supercommittee’s bill, but the group came up empty-handed. Instead, a series of automatic cuts will be implemented.
On the Supercommittee’s failure, Muny explained, “It seemed like a tough sell to get them to create anything. Everybody on the Supercommittee is the leader in the House or Senate and so I viewed any work we did to reach out to them as a 100% carryover for other pieces of legislation. On Monday, we wanted to give a final push that they’d remember. It certainly would have been nice for poker to be included in the Supercommittee’s recommendations.”
Back in the House, Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX, pictured) has introduced HR 2366, which would license and regulate online poker in the United States through a series of state agencies. It boasts 25 cosponsors on both sides of the aisle and was introduced in late June.“The next step for Barton’s bill would be a markup,” Muny told us. “We’ve had two hearings on internet gambling in the House subcommittee, so we’re hoping to be at the next step. It would be nice if we could get it in this year, but if that doesn’t happen, it could happen early next year. It has to be voted through somewhere.”
Some in the industry have been campaigning for HR 2366 to be attached to another bill in order to become law in much the same way that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) did in 2006. The UIGEA was tacked onto an unrelated port security measure and changed the landscape of the online poker industry in the United States overnight.
Muny discussed the possibility of HR 2366 being attached as a rider: “Last year, Harry Reid’s (D-NV) proposal was for an online poker bill to be attached to something. That’s a feasible route and something that could happen to legislation down the road. It could also be passed as a freestanding bill. Those are the two ways for it to go through, but we’re pushing for it to go through in a markup.”
To kick off last week’s House subcommittee meeting, Chairwoman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA, pictured) alluded to the importance of Indian gaming in her own district, a sign that she might favor a state-by-state approach to regulation and seek substantial input from tribes: “In my own Congressional District, tribal gaming has been a huge plus, with seven casinos supporting thousands of jobs during these difficult economic times. The tribes have been great neighbors too, contributing regularly to charities and civic events.”Check out our Senate committee hearing recap and our House subcommittee hearing recap. We’ll continue to bring you the latest legislative developments right here on PocketFives.
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