After a fairly positive hearing at the end of October, a House of Representatives subcommittee will meet again next week to discuss online gambling and poker and any potential legislation.
The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade and its chairperson, Rep. Mary Bono-Mack of California, have scheduled more hearings on the issue of internet gambling for November 18th. After a hearing on October 25th, Rep. Bono-Mack stated that there would be follow-up hearings to continue the discussion, and the November hearing is timed almost perfectly. Next week’s hearing will be the day after a gathering of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which will be meeting to discuss how tribes can get in on potential internet gambling.
That October hearing generated interest due to the fact that the overall message from the legislators was fairly positive. Texas Representative Joe Barton, the Republican who has pushed legislation that would regulate and legalize online poker in the United States and a member of Rep. Bono-Mack’s committee, led a strong charge and, for the most part, was backed by a host of witnesses who appeared before the committee.
Witnesses such as Parry Aftab, the chairwoman of the Board of Advisors for FairPlayUSA, and former Senator and current chairman of the Poker Players Alliance Alfonse D’Amato, among others, testified in front of the House subcommittee that regulation of the industry was better than the prohibition of online gambling. While D’Amato was the only one who was definitively pro-online poker, many of the other advocates were surprisingly neutral on the issue but leaning towards regulation. As such, that October House subcommittee meeting has fueled the fires that online poker legislation, at the minimum, is a possibility.
In discussing the upcoming hearing, Michael Waxman, a spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, stated to the Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Steve Tetreault, “The flurry of hearings clearly shows how momentum is building for Congress to move on this issue.” At this moment, there hasn’t been any witnesses announced for the November hearing, but such a list is expected at the midpoint of next week.
One of the potential methods for introducing online poker regulation is quickly reaching its endgame. The “supercommittee” created from equal number of Democratic and Republican House and Senate members to suggest methods of deficit reduction is scheduled to present its findings on November 23rd. There has been a tremendous amount of lobbying by the poker community towards the members of the “supercommittee” to include legislation which would regulate and legalize online poker, not only to protect customers but also to bring in revenues. With less than two weeks until that Thanksgiving Eve deadline, there has been little movement from either side on several key issues and it is unknown if the online gaming question has been in the discussions.
All of the political action in Washington, DC, has the “brick and mortar” casino industry drawing their cards, so to speak, in teaming up with online operations for potential internet gaming options. Last week, MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming joined forces with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment for a proposed partnership that would become operational once the U. S. government clarifies their online gaming and poker laws, while Caesars Entertainment already has such an operation in place, through 888 Holdings PLC and a World Series of Poker branded online card room (for players outside of the U. S.), that could be expanded to accept American action. Other operations, such as Fertitta Enterprises (owners of Station Casinos) in Las Vegas and the California card rooms The Bicycle Casino and the Commerce Casino, have started “free play” options online that could be easily converted to real money operations once regulated.
The “wild card” in any potential legislation may come from the Indian tribes and their casino operations. During the October hearings, Ernest Stevens, the chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, was the most reluctant speaker about the potential for internet gaming, instead more interested in preserving the Indian tribes’ sovereign rights to be a player in internet gaming and be able to maintain a tax-exempt status.
Next week’s hearing, as well as the “supercommittee” report coming in less than two weeks, will give a good indication of where any potential legislation regarding online poker and gaming overall stands. Poker News Daily will continue to monitor the situation and report on the upcoming moves in Washington, DC, over the next couple of weeks.