Home / Poker News February 2013 / The Poker Grapevine – Another Federal Poker Bill in the Making?
The Poker Grapevine – Another Federal Poker Bill in the Making?
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Thu, 2013-02-21 02:03
Lately, all the headlines have been stolen by individual states’ legalization efforts as the federal-level drive to legalize
online poker has taken a back seat after repeated setbacks. It now looks like the issue may jump to the front again, as – according to the American Gaming Association’s Frank Fahrenkopf - a new bill is on its way to the US House of Representatives.
According to Fahrenkopf, the issue of federally legalized online poker has become a hot one again in the House after Delaware’s legalization efforts kicked into high gear a few weeks ago. Fahrenkopf says there’s a real possibility that other states will follow in Delaware’s footsteps, in which case, online poker will register a huge expansion in the US, without a federally regulated framework to keep things together.
The effort will apparently be spearheaded by Congressman Joe Barton again. Barton has been known as an ardent supporter of online poker legalization and he has indeed carried similar efforts before.
In other news: New Jersey’s Chris Christie has apparently made up his mind about online poker/gambling in the Garden State and he now intends to move quickly on the issue. About a week ago, lawmakers have made it clear that they would waste no time in introducing the changes to the bill Christie had asked for through his conditional veto. Once those changes are in place, Christie said he saw no reasons to further delay the signing of the bill.
According to some of the insiders, real money online poker may become a reality in New Jersey in the fall of 2013.
In still other news: problems for the Partouche Poker Tour continue to mount a good 6 months after its demise. It now appears Partouche family members may have received undue funds from the organization as tournament entries.
