Americans Hope for Best
The battle for legal and regulated internet gambling in the United States continues with the introduction of Senator Robert Menendez’s (Democrat, New Jersey) Internet skill gaming and license control act. The bill is designed to create a framework for regulating online poker and other games of skill in the United States. Many European countries already enjoy the amazing tax revenue generated by legal, regulated online gaming while the United States continues to find reasons to stay away from the lucrative source of income.
The bill would make a licensing program for skill games offered in the United States such as Poker, Rummy and Backgammon. Menendez is clear however that the bill will not include sports betting as a skill game. Sports bettors unfortunately may still have to fight for their right to bet even if this bill goes through. The Poker Players Alliance, a special interest group with over one million members played a role in getting the bill crafted. The PPA is a grass roots organization that has been lobbying for players rights and legalized online gambling for some time.
The licensing procedure proposed by the bill would call for great scrutiny in granting licenses as well as several mandatory technological implementations. Paramount among these is underage prevention, fraud prevention and money laundering prevention. The bill is most likely the result of the success another bill introduced by Barney Frank (Democrat, Massachusetts) is currently seeing. Frank’s bill recently was approved by a house committee and will not move onto debate on the floor.
For now, Americans can try their luck with one of these US Online Poker Sites.
