Frank's Online Gambling Bill has Hearing Date</h1>Wednesday, April 14, 2010, By Jo Whittaker
<img class="leda-news-view-art-main-img" src="http://www.classicasinos.com/_media//news1/512_ns_picfile_f7b51.jpg" width="111" height="116" alt="512_ns_picfile_f7b51.jpg" /> Barney Franks online gambling bill has been waiting in the wings while Congress has been dealing with more pressing issues, such as the health care reform bill. After nearly a year of waiting, the bill finally has a hearing date for this week. The Internet gambling bill will be heard in the House Financial Services Committee on Friday 16th April 2010. Franks online gambling bill, HR 2267, proposes the regulation of online gambling in the United States. Another bill, HR 2266, a companion bill to the main online gambling bill, that will also be heard is one that requests the delay of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) by one year, in order to give the online gambling bill time to progress through legal channels. Currently, the UIGEA is suspended. The request to suspend the UIGEA until the online gambling bill was heard in Congress, came from Barney Frank and others who support regulating online gambling. The original request was for a full year, however, in November, the Treasury granted a six-month suspension, which is soon due to expire. This makes the companion bill to Franks main bill fairly important at this timeAlthough the two bills are scheduled to be heard this week, there has been no markup scheduled. This might mean that even after the bills are heard, there may need to be another hearing in order to proceed with the process. Although the lack of any information regarding the markup is concerning, there are those who see this first step as a positive move forward. Michael Waxman, from the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, is one of those who feels positive. Waxman said: This hearing will provide further evidence that the UIGEA is a poorly crafted law that simply does not work. We expect this hearing to provide further impetus for the House Financial Services Committee and Congress to address this issue and move forward Chairman Franks regulatory bill.
<img class="leda-news-view-art-main-img" src="http://www.classicasinos.com/_media//news1/512_ns_picfile_f7b51.jpg" width="111" height="116" alt="512_ns_picfile_f7b51.jpg" /> Barney Franks online gambling bill has been waiting in the wings while Congress has been dealing with more pressing issues, such as the health care reform bill. After nearly a year of waiting, the bill finally has a hearing date for this week. The Internet gambling bill will be heard in the House Financial Services Committee on Friday 16th April 2010. Franks online gambling bill, HR 2267, proposes the regulation of online gambling in the United States. Another bill, HR 2266, a companion bill to the main online gambling bill, that will also be heard is one that requests the delay of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) by one year, in order to give the online gambling bill time to progress through legal channels. Currently, the UIGEA is suspended. The request to suspend the UIGEA until the online gambling bill was heard in Congress, came from Barney Frank and others who support regulating online gambling. The original request was for a full year, however, in November, the Treasury granted a six-month suspension, which is soon due to expire. This makes the companion bill to Franks main bill fairly important at this timeAlthough the two bills are scheduled to be heard this week, there has been no markup scheduled. This might mean that even after the bills are heard, there may need to be another hearing in order to proceed with the process. Although the lack of any information regarding the markup is concerning, there are those who see this first step as a positive move forward. Michael Waxman, from the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, is one of those who feels positive. Waxman said: This hearing will provide further evidence that the UIGEA is a poorly crafted law that simply does not work. We expect this hearing to provide further impetus for the House Financial Services Committee and Congress to address this issue and move forward Chairman Franks regulatory bill.
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