New US online gambling bill: good news of a kind
Internet gambling legislation was attached to a sweeping tax reform bill introduced in the US Senate this week - but while it offers hope for online gambling operators, it's not the kind of hope you were hoping for, say egaming journalist Chris Krafcik...
IN A surprise move this week, Internet gambling legislation was attached to a sweeping tax reform bill introduced in the US Senate.
Rather than weigh its prospects of passage “ gambling lobbyists told me Wednesday that the odds are very long “ I’d like to consider the significance of this bill relative to Internet gambling’s congressional history.
For the first time ever, matching regulatory bills are before the House and Senate “ and that is a milestone worth applauding. (Seriously.)
With Rep. Barney Frank at the helm, the House has reluctantly but openly mulled regulation since 2007, but the Senate has proven a much tougher sell.
The Senate “ average age, 63.1 years “ tends to snub Internet gambling as a political issue of little consequence (one needn’t look further than Sen. Roberto Menendez’s moribund skill-games bill for confirmation).
That Frank’s licensing bill now forms part of a 186-page Senate draft law does not mean the upper House has finally embraced Internet gambling. Far from it.
Rather, it means at least two senators, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, are open to using Internet gambling revenue to help offset the cost of enacting reform.
The duo’s indirect endorsement of Internet gambling, therefore, should not be overhyped (as it inevitably will be), but nor should it be overlooked.
Some members of the gambling lobby have been trying for nearly three years to have a version of Frank’s bill introduced in the Senate.
The tax-bill-with-Internet-gambling-provisions-attached has resuscitated the seldom-used gerund, “Fristing,” referring to Sen. Bill Frist, who in September 2006 as a quid pro quo for Rep. Jim Leach, attached the UIGEA to the SAFE Port Act, which was then signed into law by former president Bush.
Yet while a lot of commentators have jokingly used “Fristing” to describe that political play, it is also a signal to those heavily invested in federal lobbying that the regulatory effort has not stalled.
A vote on Frank’s bill in the Financial Services Committee “ regardless of the outcome “ represents the next milestone for Internet gambling in Washington.
When combined with this week’s Senate play, that vote would mark two historical firsts for the Internet gambling lobby in 2010. The result: incremental but measurable progress.
Perhaps more importantly, as regulatory efforts at the state level continue to expand, competition for lobbying capital “ from private and industry sources “ will undoubtedly intensify.
But as New Jersey focuses on sports betting over Internet casino gaming, as Florida’s racing industry pushes for more slot machines over online expansion and as California’s tribal gaming stakeholders remain at loggerheads over Internet poker, the federal effort, with bills in the House and Senate and a prospective vote, scored a key PR win with leery investors.