There could be a pretty lively hearing next week in the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “The State of Online Gaming” next Tuesday, December 10, at 12:30pm Eastern Time.

The festivities will take in Room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building. According to a hearing notice distributed this week, “The Subcommittee will examine the current regulatory landscape for online gaming after the Department of Justice’s reinterpretation of the Wire Act. The Subcommittee will review HR 2666, the Internet Poker Freedom Act.” No witnesses have been announced officially, but PocketFives can reveal that Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas (pictured) will be a witness.

As far as what we can expect at the hearing, PPA Vice President Rich TheEngineerMuny posted on Facebook, “Unlike some past hearings to license online poker, this one will be hotly contested. Venetian Resort, Hotel, and Casino parent Las Vegas Sands Corp. and its CEO, Sheldon Adelson, will be there in full force, opposing our right to play at every turn.” Whether Adelson or a representative of his cause will be a witness is not known.

Muny added, “[PPA Executive Director] John Pappas has been doing a phenomenal job getting a fair hearing out of this.” He also portended, “We’ll definitely see Adelson’s efforts to ban online poker on full display. It will be a tough one IMO, but we have the opportunity to use it to get our message out as well.”

For background, in December 2011, the US Department of Justice clarified the Wire Act to say it only applies to online wagering on sports. In response, three states – Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware – launched legalized intrastate online gambling this year, with other states set to follow suit. There has been no discussion of a Federal bill recently on Capitol Hill, a trend that Tuesday’s hearing will likely buck.

Adelson, whose Sands Corp. owns the Venetian and Palazzo properties in Las Vegas, has been a one-man crusade against the legalization of internet gambling in the United States. Adelson, whose land-based casinos are some of the largest on the face of the Earth, is reportedly sinking eight-figures into clarifying the Wire Act to apply to all online gambling, which could in essence eradicate intrastate games forever.

As usual, PocketFives will report from the hearing on Tuesday with the latest.

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