The Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2012 hit a procedural snag as Congress has tried to pass the bill before they adjourn for the fall campaign.
The Senate has been working hard on the bill for months. Negotiations in the upper chamber were being handled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Republican Assistant Leader John Kyl (Arizona).
Kyl was the impetus for passing a bill in 2006 which barred banks from processing on-line gambling payments. Kyl is an opponent to on-line gambling of any kind. However, he has been working on this bill after the Justice Department recently issued a new interpretation of the 1961 Wire Act which says it applies only to sports betting and no other on-line gambling. The pending bill would loosen restrictions for on-line poker and tighten restrictions for other on-line gambling. Poker is often treated differently since there is an aggressive lobbying group for on-line poker led by the Poker Players Alliance. The poker lobby argues that poker is a game of skill and of chance. A federal court in New York state ruled last month that poker is a game of chance and the Illegal Gambling Businesses Act does not apply to poker.
Kyl and Reid apparently have reached an agreement on the language of the bill. What exactly is in the Reid-Kyl bill is uncertain. However, they are uncertain on how to advance the bill. Another key player in the negotiations on the bill is Nevada Republican Senator Dean Heller. Harry Reid is working hard to defeat Heller as he is up for re-election. Reid is criticizing Heller for being unable to round up 15 Republican senators to support the bill and make sure that the bill has 60 votes overall in the Senate to survive a filibuster attempt. Heller thinks the bill should work its way through the House first before Senate Republicans come out publicly to support the bill. Kyl and Heller also think it would be better to start the bill in the House now since the House may not trust a bill that starts in the Senate.
Rep. Joe Barton, Republican from Texas is working on the bill in the House. However, Barton believes that the Senate should lead on this since Reid wants the bill badly. Reid and Heller believe that the bill will greatly help the gambling industry and the economy in Nevada in general. Kyl is accusing Harry Reid of playing politics with the bill in order to get Heller defeated in November. Kyl publicly questions which one Reid wants more, this bill passed or Heller defeated in November.
The conventional wisdom is that nothing will happen on the bill prior to adjournment before the election. There is simply not enough time to take much of anything up in the Congress just before they adjourn to campaign. There may be a better chance for the bill to pass quietly in the lame duck session. This is when Congress returns after the elections to work before the new Congress take over in January.
http://theppa.org/press-releases/2012/08/21/press-release-ppa-applauds-federal-court-ruling-that-poker-is-a-game-of-skill-and-not-illegal-gambling-08212012/
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-internet-gambling-prohibition-poker-37671/
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/online-gambling-bill-stalled-by-tactical-spat-20120912
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