Poker legalization in the USA

In recent weeks there seems to have been a large grass roots movement for regulation of internet poker in the United States. If we look back in recent months at the happenings in this area there has been an attempt by the state of California to regulate. This ultimately failed as there were protests by various parties in the state as to the final model that California wanted to implement.

In the last week however legislation by the Republican Senator Barney Frank has passed succesfully despite some minor opposition. The relevant bill is named HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act and its aim is to regulate internet poker in the United States of America. There have been a number of amendements to the bill, the most important one being that current providers of online poker games in the USA will not be able to apply for licences should regulation come about.

This is certainly a good thing for the large gambling companies based out of Las Vegas who are without a doubt watching the scenario unfold and are in all probability taking steps already to enter a new legal internet poker market. Harrahs who own the WSOP trademark would undoubtedly benefit most from this scenario as well as other poker operators who pulled out of the USA following the implementation of UIGEA.

No one really knows how long this process will take but we do hope that common sense prevails and that the average poker player will be allowed to play poker legally in due course. If you are a Poker player in the USA and want to find out more about what you can do to speed the process up we recommend joining up with the Poker Players Alliance where they have a lot of information re contacting various federal agencies.

Written for Internetpoker.co.uk by Greg

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