UIGEA Repeal Meetings Give Hope to Online Poker Players

Several meetings were held this past week in Washington DC to strategize how to challenge the U.S. Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which signals hope for online poker players that UIGEA repeal efforts are coming to a climax in the coming months.

A meeting between House Financial Services Committee politicians and online gambling lobbyists, was held Thursday to agree on a strategy to repeal of the UIGEA, according to Gambling911, who also broke the news of a meeting the same day between several major portals to discuss how to encourage massive US player and gaming industry support for Congressman Barney Frank's efforts to repeal the UIGEA.

Frank, who is the new chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, said that he plans to introduce his UIGEA repeal proposal next week or the week after that, as noted in a prior PokerPages article.

He noted in an interview published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal (LVRJ) on Thursday, that resistance is growing against the UIGEA ban which made it illegal for financial institutions to handle transactions between online gambling sites and US residents.

Congress passed the ban after it was attached to a 'sure-to-be-passed' unrelated Safe Ports Act by then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Rep-Tenn.), with the support of Senator Jon Kyl (Rep-Az.).

Frank told the LVRJ, "I think a lot of members of Congress voted for that without having given it a lot of attention. And I think that there is growing opposition to it. I think that this may be a case where, after the fact of having voted for it, people don't like it and they reconsider."

Meanwhile, Nevadans Shelley Berkley (Dem.) and Jon Porter (Rep.) are planning to introduce legislation calling for a study of Internet gambling by the National Academy of Sciences within the next two weeks. They had formerly mentioned an 18-month study, and now are expected to propose a one-year study, which is another signal that pressure is mounting in Washington to address online gambling.

Frank said he may support the Nevadans' bill, but stressed, "I want to go beyond the study."

The Poker Players Alliance, chaired by former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., has repeatedly stated that they may seek legislation to exempt online poker from the ban (click here to read related PokerPages article).

But in statements during a European trip last week, Frank told Belgian reporters that he rejected any carve out for poker that is being lobbying for. Frank said he was "un-persuaded" to work for such a carve out to add to the existing carve outs already in the UIGEA for using the Internet to bet on horses and sports fantasy games or buy Lottery tickets.

"I am not going to draw a distinction between poker and blackjack," Frank said.

Frank acknowledged Congress may not be ready to change the ban dramatically, "But I know (lawmakers) are hearing from people who don't like it now. So I'd say the situation is very fluid."

Although he said it would be "premature" to discuss details of his bill, Frank explained why he has described the Internet gambling ban as one of the "stupidest" ever passed.

"Because I like to tell the truth," he said. "It has no valid public purpose in my judgment. It intrudes in people's private lives."

"One argument for it ... was this activity [online poker] adds nothing to the GDP (gross domestic product). That's a chilling principle; that if something doesn't add to the gross domestic product we can ban it. That's a kind of ... corporatism that is very troubling to me."

The ban made it illegal for financial institutions to handle credit card transactions or other bank instruments to pay for sports bets or any other form of online gambling (except for the carve-outs noted above for betting on horses and sports fantasy games or buying Lottery tickets).

The carve out for horse betting is what sealed the World Trade Organization's (WTO) recent decision to uphold rulings in the case brought by Antigua against the USA for discriminating against online gambling companies located outside of the United States (click here to read related article about WTO case).

It had been estimated that US online gambling had been a $12 billion industry before the UIGEA became law last October.

It is interesting to note that Frank has been a persistent, consistent, and often lone voice objecting to efforts to regulate gambling.

"In a number of areas, I am a libertarian," Frank told the LVRJ. "I think that John Stuart Mill's 'On Liberty' is a great statement, and I was just rereading it. I believe that people should be allowed to read and gamble and ride motorcycles and do a lot of things that other people might not want to let them do."

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