Federal online poker bill introduced in US
Joe Barton introduces new bill aimed at regulating online poker on a federal level
Federal online poker regulation is once more back on the agenda in Washington after long-time poker advocate Representative Joe Barton introduced a new bill to Congress on Thursday.
Unlike the bill introduced earlier this year by Peter King, it would only permit the regulation of online poker with no other form of online gambling permitted.
HR2666, The Poker Freedom Act, aims to create federal oversight of online poker legislation to avoid a patchwork of state-by-state regulations.
It would set up an Office of Internet Poker Oversight, which would in turn permit states and tribal agencies to act as regulatory bodies for online poker operators.
States would be opted-in to the new legislation by default, but would be permitted to opt out and the bad actor provision would only extend to those with a felony conviction.
It would also strengthen the UIGEA by adding a list of unlicensed operators that payment firms would be banned from doing business with.
The Poker Freedom Act is similar to a bill introduced by Barton in 2012, which did not make it to a vote in Congress despite receiving 11 co-sponsors.
The US lobbying group the Poker Players Association welcomed the new bill, but the response in the US media was muted with relatively little coverage.
And the reaction from the online gaming community was similarly restrained, with gaming lawyer Ian Imrich tweeting “at least this keeps the conversation going”.