Senate bill calls for regulating, not banning, online poker

[PartyT]

Senate bill calls for regulating, not banning, online poker

By TONY BATT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- The effort to roll back an Internet gambling ban has reached the Senate, with a bill by Sen. Robert Menendez that calls for licensing and regulating online poker and other "games of skill" instead of outlawing them.

Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, intends to introduce the bill today, according to the Poker Players Alliance, which lobbies against the 2006 ban.

This would be the first bill introduced in the Senate to weaken the ban, which prohibits banks and credit card companies from accepting payments for online gambling.

The Senate bill's introduction follows a 30-16 vote on Sept. 16 by the House Financial Services Committee that would require federal agencies to define unlawful Internet gambling before completing regulations to enforce the ban.

"This action by Senator Menendez is yet another example that prohibitions on Internet gambling, and specifically poker, will not work to protect consumers," former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., who is the chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, said in a statement.

The Menendez bill is similar to legislation introduced in June 2007 in the House by Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla.

Wexler's bill has 22 co-sponsors, including Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jon Porter, R-Nev.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau reporter Tony Batt media.com or 202-783-1760.

[Pokey]

As much as I dislike corporate lobbyists, particularly CASINO lobbyists, it's a stupid law and it needs scrapping or at least FIXING!

As usual... Write or call your senators (their e-mails are easy to find too!) and tell them you want them to support this bill.

[Peacefrog]

So they are gona accept poker but not casinos and/or bingo?

[julian]

We support the bill but I think it will take time to frame laws & regulations regarding gambling houses. We also want laws like the banks & credit cards companies which will prevent scamming by bad guys and save the gamblers.

[gamblingking007]

A bill like this indeed a great thing.... we all should support this bill and we should make our selves heard on this issues.

I think we should express the support for this in forums like this and make these visible. Anyway, there are thousands of online forums where we can shout.