HR 2267 Hearing and what it means to you as a poker player

Well it certainly has been a long time since I have posted on my blog, I come back to share some news in regard to Online Poker. Currently there is a bill, crafted by House Financial Committee chairman Barney Frank called HR 2267 that is in the works to legalize and regulate online poker.

This bill is one that has been in the works for awhile now, ever since the UIGEA was signed into law. Recently on June 1st 2010 the UIGEA went into full enforcement. The effect on the poker sites and primarily US poker players has been little to none. This could change in coming months and years, which is why bill HR 2267 is so important.

Today on capital hill inside the House Financial Services Committee they held a hearing to discuss the bill being crafted. This hearing is primarily for opponents to voice their reasons for disapproval, allow proponents to voice why they thing the bill is good, and also allow people on the edge voice their opinion on how to make the bill better. During the hearing, which was aired live on www.theppa.org , the bill was put under the microscope. The opponents voiced their opinions on why they thought online poker should be illegal. Their choice of words was key, they used phrasing like "gambling is bad for our kids" and included every chance they could to say "gambling" when in fact online poker has been mandated as a game of skill. The opponents of the bill were skeptical that it would prevent problem gamblers and children off of the internet.

Back to the good news. Annie Duke led off the witness portion of the hearing representing the Poker Players Alliance with a strong argument on why Online Poker should be legalized. She stayed strong on the fact that it is a personal freedom that Americans should be able to gamble and play online poker inside their own house. She also brushed away the problem with addictive gambling by saying how only 1% of the gambling population is subject to pathological gambling. She explained that we shouldn't disregard the rest of the population that wants to play poker just for the minority of problem gamblers. She also did a very good job of explaining why the UIGEA is bad, primarily that it does nothing to protect consumers from getting cheated, it only goes after the payment processors. Going after the middle man in this giant process is not the way to go, and instead we should look at regulating and taxing the poker industry to make things more legitimate and fair.

The people on the fence of this bill included Indian tribes who wanted to put in a clause to allow them to also take part in the online poker industry. A rather strange case was also made by the Vice Chairman and Director of Strategic Planning at the Commerce Casino Mr. Tom Malkasian. He simply wanted to make sure that the people in violation of the law currently could not be in the industry when the US regulates online gambling. I think this was strategically done to make sure that they(brick and mortar casinos) could have a larger portion of the market when legalization happens. Both witnesses who were on the fence said that if some of their suggestions were put in place they would be in favor of this bill.

It will still be a tough vote to win, the last time a bill went to vote on this issue it stayed in committee due to a tie. Hopefully the committee can pass this bill and have a victory for poker, after that it will go to the house for further debate and voting. Just be sure to check back here for all your information on HR 2267