HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, was passed out of the House Financial Services Committee last week by a 41-22 margin. On the same day as the measure was approved, HR 2267 picked up its 70th co-sponsor, Congressman John Campbell (R-CA).
A total of 18 amendments to HR 2267 were discussed last Wednesday during a two-part marathon markup session. Campbell’s focused primarily on consumer protections, including the option for internet gamblers to select a loss limit. Campbell’s inclusion also mandated that the odds of winning should be posted and users should be able to choose which random number generator to employ when playing on the virtual felts.
Campbell summed up his amendment by asserting, “When you take all of this together, many of the objections put forth to this bill should be handled by this amendment. We have a number of consumer protections that do not currently exist online.” In response, Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-AL) said that he would neither oppose Campbell’s amendment nor ask for a roll call vote on it, but then noted that Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden, was against HR 2267.
Among those weighing in on Campbell’s involvement with the bill is Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) Chairman Joe Brennan, who told Poker News Daily, “Campbell’s amendment puts all of the costs of prevention on the operators. It essentially liberates individuals from personal responsibility and casts the industry as nothing but a harbinger of doom for people who are powerless. I can understand that people want to put protections in place, but you’re talking about upping the ante. How many operators will be able to afford that?”
Also keeping close tabs on Campbell and the other 69 co-sponsors of HR 2267 is the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative (SSIGI), whose credibility has been brought into question several times by Bachus during last month’s hearings. SSIGI spokesperson Michael Waxman told us, “It was good to see some new members supporting HR 2267, including Congressman Campbell, which further illustrates that this is a bipartisan bill.”
Bachus called out the SSIGI for having its listed address as a UPS Store in Washington, DC. The Alabama Congressman, who is reportedly on the outs as Ranking Member, quoted an Orlando Sun-Sentinel article about children being addicted to gambling on multiple occasions during the proceedings last Wednesday. Bachus opened the markup hearing by commenting, “Stopping adults from gambling has never been my goal. This bill will circumvent state and local law. Today, the Federal Government will preempt that law and allow gambling on every electronic device in America.”
Campbell, despite being on the same side of the aisle as Bachus, noted that staunch consumer protections could alleviate many of Bachus’ concerns about children and other vulnerable populations gambling online: “The point of this entire bill is that there are many protections that don’t exist out there today on these illegal gambling sites. If we create a structure, many of the protections that the Ranking Member is concerned about will exist.”
The future of HR 2267 is anyone’s guess. Lawmakers will head to their districts between August 9th and September 10th for the annual summer work period. Then, Congress has a target adjournment date of October 8th for general elections in the United States. Every House seat and one-third of the Senate will be up for grabs.
In addition, HR 2267 does not have a supported companion bill in the Senate, as Robert Menendez’s (D-NJ) S 1597 has no co-sponsors and has not yet been discussed in any capacity. HR 2267’s revenue companion bill, Congressman Jim McDermott’s (D-WA) HR 4976, has not yet been marked up in the House Ways and Means Committee, although the group discussed the legislation in May.
