He has been quiet for a while on the subject of poker, but United States Representative Joe Barton (R – Texas) has stepped back out into the forefront, announcing that he will soon introduce another online poker bill. This one, like his past bills, will seek to legalize and regulate online poker on the federal level, a total counter to Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s (R – Utah) Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA).
As Earl Burton wrote on this very site earlier this month, Barton was one of online poker’s champions in Congress from 2011 through 2013, introducing a pro-poker bill more than once. His last attempt was with the Internet Poker Freedom Act of 2013 in July 2013. It did gain some traction, to the point of having a hearing held to discuss it, but it never went anywhere. Since then, though, Barton has barely said “boo” about internet poker.
Though Barton has not actually introduced the bill and therefore we do not know exactly what it contains, he did tell the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that it is going to be essentially the same as his past bills. It will be poker only; it will not touch lotteries, sports betting, or online casino games such as blackjack.
Barton has confirmed that credit cards will not be permitted as a deposit method. While this may be disappointing to some people (if, by some miracle, this bill actually becomes law), it makes sense to restrict deposits to a debit card. That way, poker players must have sufficient funds to play and will be unable to run up credit card debt. Sure, players could still drain their bank accounts if they are reckless, but that is better than going deep into credit card debt, which would hurt both the player and the credit card company.
Though Barton’s bill would legalize online poker throughout the entire United States, individual states will still be able to choose whether or not they want to participate. One would think that if it is an “opt-out” bill, that is, all states are included unless they specifically choose not to be, that most states would end up accepting legalized online poker if the bill became law. If it is an “opt-in” bill where all states are out unless they choose to join in, it would probably be much harder to get widespread acceptance.
Part Barton bills also restricted the legal gambling age to 21 and over and specified that only people in the United States would be able to play on licensed sites. It would be reasonable to think that with the latter provision, there might be some possibility for players from the rest of the world to join in the fun after some sort of waiting period. Lawmakers may want to make sure everything is working fine before going international.
We will see for sure if Barton’s new bill is the same as his old ones once he introduces it. It will come at an interesting time, as now that the fight is on against RAWA, the focus of poker supporters has shifted from gaining federal regulation to seeing that states’ rights to legalize online gambling is protected.