Barney Frank Unveils Internet Gambling Legislation
Representatives Barney Frank (Democrat-Mass.) and Peter King (Republican-N.Y.) introduced legislation May 6, 2009 to allow online gambling in the United States. This bill has support from Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., YouBet.com and the Poker Players Alliance.
The legislation, if passed, will allow licensed gambling operators to accept online wagers from people in the United States. This new legislation would repeal language of the UIGEA law of 2006, which made it illegal for banks to process gambling bets online. This would basically reverse the 3 year old ban on online gambling (UIGEA) that did not work.
Frank said the bill would give the U.S. Treasury Department the authority to establish regulations and license Internet gambling operators. The Treasury would also have the authority to revoke or terminate the license of any operator that violates the law.
Harrah’s vice president Jan Jones said regulating and taxing online gambling might increase government funds by $2 billion to $6 billion annually. “At a time where there is no money, that can be going to healthcare or S-CHIP,” the children’s insurance program, Jones said. I’m sure Harrahs is backing this bill because they want a piece of the online gambling they are currently missing out on.
Here is the video of Rep. Barney Frank introducing legislation to license and regulate online gambling:
