US finance committee to vote on new internet gambling law

July 25, 2010 By Simon Goodley
The financial services committee of the US House of Representatives will vote on Tuesday on a bill to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
This piece of legislation became infamous in the City four years ago after its introduction decimated the share prices of London-listed online gambling groups.
The new internet gambling legislation, proposed by the committee's Republican chairman, Barney Frank, will start the process of allowing the US Treasury to regulate online gambling in the US, rather than outlaw it. It is seen as a potential boon for the listed gaming groups, which could eventually gain licences and start operating in the US once again.
Industry insiders believe Congressman Frank's call for a vote indicates that he is confident of victory. But they are sceptical anything substantial will change before next year, as few politicians will relish debating this issue before November's midterm elections.
In a recent Barclays Capital research note, the investment bank said: "In the event of federal regulation, we believe PartyGaming would be the likely key beneficiary.... We estimate the potential [underlying profits] uplift could be 94 per cent for PartyGaming and 58 for [rivals] bwin and 888."independent.co.uk/

The online gambling debate may soon heat up in the US Congress with Representative Barney Frank pushing his proposed legislation that would regulate Internet gambling in the country. On Wednesday, a hearing was held regarding the legislation, and a mark up date has been set for next Tuesday.

Many industry insiders expected that the mark up stage would come several weeks down the road, but that will not be the case. Rep. Frank may believe that the time to strike is now, with Democratic leaders gaining momentum in the past couple of weeks.

Already, a financial reform bill has passed this week, and on Thursday President Obama signed legislation that will extend unemployment benefits to thousands of Americans who lost their benefits back in June. With the new-found momentum, Frank will attempt to finally overturn the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

The UIGEA was created to stop Internet gambling in the US, but in the first few months of its existence, the law has done little to deter online gambling. Millions of gamblers in the country are logging into online poker sites on a daily basis.

Financial institutions have been saddled with the responsibility of blocking transactions to and from online gambling sites, yet they have argued that the UIGEA does not define what constitutes an illegal betting activity.

The mark up stage that begins on Tuesday will be crucial to the outcome of the vote on Frank's legislation. Several areas of concern were raised during the hearing on Wednesday, and the House Financial Committee Chairman has vowed to make the necessary adjustments to satisfy those concerns.

Once the mark up is complete, the bill will then move towards a vote. Even if the House passed the legislation, it would take some convincing to get the bill through the Senate. Still, Frank is confident that a growing number of lawmakers understand the flaws in the UIGEA, and will vote in favor of changing the current online gambling system.

July 23, 2010
Posted By Larry Rutherford
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com

Bill vote will be close according to some.

The markup is scheduled to start at 10am tomorrow, with HR 2267 currently listed third on the list of seven bills. The last time a bill regarding Internet gambling made it to a markup a vote in the Committee (2008), it “lost” by a vote of 32-32 . Doing a little bit of research by using the PPA Congressional Ratings website , the previous markup vote, and previous hearings, there are currently 34 Yeas, 22 Nays, and 16 Undecided.

Watch the vote live at AT Poker.com