According to GovTrack.us, which keeps tabs on US legislation and lawmaker voting records, the bills to prohibit internet gambling in the United States have a slim chance of being passed before the end of the current legislation session, which occurs at the end of the year. Any bills not acted upon by the end of 2014 will be considered dead and must be reintroduced in 2015 in order to be considered.

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HR 4301, the Restoration of America’s Wire Act, introduced by Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT, pictured), has an 8% chance of passing, according to GovTrack.us. The bill would restore the Wire Act to encompass online poker and internet gambling, making those activities illegal. The bill would also wipe out the current regulated US internet gambling markets in New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.

Chaffetz’s bill was introduced in March and, according to GovTrack, has a 40% chance of getting past its committee.

The companion legislation to HR 4301 in the US Senate is S 2159, introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC, pictured). GovTrack gives Graham’s legislation a minute 1% chance of being passed and a 7% chance of making it out of committee. Graham’s bill was also introduced in March.

Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson has been one of the main drivers behind the bills from Chaffetz and Graham. If you’re interested in not supporting Adelson’s anti-internet gambling efforts, don’t gamble or spend money at the Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas and the Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania.

One analyst doesn’t see the Federal Government stepping in to regulate or prohibit online gambling unless more states move forward on their own similar to New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware. The analyst told Vegas Inc, “If more and more states would enact online gaming at the state level, I think at some point there would be more interest for a Federal bill.”

Also not high on the prospects of online gambling becoming an outlawed activity in the US anytime soon is Tom Russell, Director of the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection, who was quoted by Vegas Inc as saying, “It’s really unrealistic for Congress to step into the role of, for all intents and purposes, trying to put the internet back in a bottle.”

Stay tuned for the latest poker legislation news right here on PocketFives.

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