Recently, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) offered up an intriguing amendment to pay for part of the cost of the nearly $1 trillion proposed health care initiative in the United States: Use tax revenue from internet gambling. Wyden, however, withdrew his proposal, which could have drawn over $60 billion from Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) Internet Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, HR 2267. Now, it’s back to the drawing board for supporters of internet gambling. Let’s take a look back at the failed proposal.
Upon hearing that Wyden had suggested using funds from legalized and regulated internet gambling and online poker to pay for a social program receiving a bevy of attention, Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas told PocketFives.com, “We are glad that the potential to raise revenue through regulated i-gaming is part of the public policy debate. It is far from clear whether this amendment will be offered, but the PPA is working to ensure that this or other similar proposals get full attention.” The PPA has put its full weight behind Frank’s HR 2267 and HR 2266, the latter of which delays compliance with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) by one year to December 1st, 2010.
Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) Chairman Joe Brennan added that internet gambling appearing in the debate was long overdue: “It’s good to see that somebody like Senator Wyden thinks that there’s an opportunity to fund something that’s so critical to our economy with internet gambling revenue. It’s an untapped pool of potential tax revenue that so far Congress has irresponsibly denied to try to tap.”Brennan added, “If Congress would just wake up and recognize that this is something Americans want, then they would be that much closer to realizing revenue to direct towards important things like health care.” Brennan and company are fresh off an unsuccessful challenge against the constitutionality of the UIGEA. However, a three-judge Court of Appeals panel revealed that internet gambling’s legality may now be a state issue.
Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative spokesperson Michael Waxman broke the news about Wyden’s proposal, which came to light early last week. Waxman told PocketFives.com, “If the revenue generated from internet gambling isn’t dedicated to health care reform, it’s only a matter of time before Congress allocates the billions in new revenue sitting on the table to one program or another.” A study by the U.S.-based company PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that over $60 billion could be raised from taxing internet gambling operators soliciting U.S. customers over a 10-year period. However, that figure includes legalized online sports betting.The jubilation over Wyden’s proposal was short-lived. He quickly withdrew the measure, prompting the following comment from his Communications Director to The Hill news outlet: “The last thing Senator Wyden wants to do is make it more difficult to expand subsidies for working families by introducing a new contentious issue to the debate. So when he offers the amendment, he will do it with other funding mechanisms.” As a result, Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), who is the author of HR 2268, a companion bill to HR 2267, told The Hill that he’d consider introducing an amendment similar to Wyden’s in the House of Representatives.
HR 2267, which was introduced at the beginning of May, is up to 58 cosponsors, including Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Peter King (R-NY), Ron Paul (R-TX), and Robert Wexler (D-FL). HR 2266, meanwhile, has grown to boast nearly as many, garnering 43 cosponsors. A total of eight cosponsors were added during the month of September alone, as time is slowly running out for the bill to be passed. As it currently stands, the financial services industry in the United States must come into full compliance with the 2006 law by December 1st.
Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest poker legislation news.
Canada
United Kingdom
Costa Rica
Australia
Mexico
Denmark
Russian Federation
Sweden
Brazil
Germany
