On Monday, the “lame duck” session of Congress kicked off in Washington, DC. The period may mark one last hoorah for the internet gambling industry in the United States, which will see a Republican-led House of Representatives convene in January. Also this week, the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative has been touting the budgetary effects of legalizing and regulating our industry.
Information distributed by the Initiative on Tuesday explained, “A bi-partisan commission created by President Obama is currently working on a plan to help balance our nation’s budget – projected at $1.42 trillion for fiscal year 2009. Their recommendations, due to be released by December 1st, 2010, are being crafted in part based on testimony provided by various experts and interest groups.” Licensed internet gambling, according to projections, could bring over $40 billion in much-needed tax revenue over a ten-year period.
The Initiative is asking concerned online poker players and internet gamblers alike to send an e-mail to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform at commission@fc.eop.gov. The bipartisan commission is tasked with creating ways to address the budget deficit, and internet gambling may be part of the solution.
Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson and President Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles serve as the Co-Chairmen of the Commission, whose roster also includes six Democratic lawmakers and six Republican lawmakers. Honeywell International CEO David Cote, former Young and Rubicam Brands CEO Ann Fudge, Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern, and former Office of Management and Budget Director Alice Rivlin also comprise the eclectic group.
Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative spokesperson Michael Waxman told Poker News Daily on Wednesday, “While the Deficit Commission has many difficult decisions to make, putting to use the revenue generated through online gambling regulation should be a no-brainer.”
The Initiative has crafted a sample e-mail that can be accessed from its website that reads in part, “Given our nation’s economic challenges, it is time to replace a failed attempt at prohibition with a regulated environment that allows online gambling activity, protects consumers, and uses the much-needed new revenue generated to pay off our nation’s debt.” The letter trumpets legislation put forth by Congressmen Barney Frank (D-MA) and Jim McDermott (D-WA). Both will return to the next Congress in the New Year.
Frank’s legislation, HR 2267, has picked up 70 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle and was rubber-stamped out of the House Financial Services Committee in July. Now, it awaits its time on the House floor. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, and other organizations have been pushing for the bill to be acted on during the “lame duck” session. The measure creates a full licensing and regulatory framework for internet gambling companies to solicit U.S. customers.
McDermott introduced HR 4976, the second incarnation of a tax companion bill to HR 2267, in April. The Washington lawmaker’s legislation allocates funds derived from licensed internet gambling to state governments as well as the Federal Government. It has not yet been passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The Initiative’s sample e-mail notes that Americans continue to wager “$100 billion annually online in an underground marketplace” despite laws like the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which was attached to an unrelated port security bill and passed in 2006. HR 2267 and its tax companion may ultimately be pushed through the current Congress in a similar manner and attached as “pay-for” bills to must-pass legislation.
The Initiative’s endorsers include the UC Group, Baker Tilly, eCOGRA, Secure Trading, the Remote Gambling Association, GamCare, and the European Gaming and Betting Association.
