A small step in the legalization of online gambling made its way through the house this week, albeit very slowly. They do say however that good things come to those who wait. Those who wait will of course continue to do so.
The bill at this point has passed the house committee it now needs to pass the house. What that means is that the house committee voted for the bill to go forward to the house where it will be voted on yet again.
To become law, HR 2267 then needs to make it through senate hearings, and then a through a vote in senate with 60 votes or more. After that time it will be presented to and then signed into law by President Obama. This is all provided that it doesn’t fail anywhere along the way.
A similar bill was put before the senate not that long ago, it lost with a 32/32 vote. Much like in a game of blackjack a tie here is a loss. Sadly some citizens that wrote to their senators about the bill were responded to with letters full of senators own personal beliefs, a confirmation that the senators didn’t care what their constituents believed, just that they themselves believed gambling to be immoral.
Immoral, like rape, and murder, theft, adultery etc.
Hopefully those senators realize this time that they are OUR VOICE and when we bring down their phone lines with calls about a bill we believe in, we expect them to vote with our voice, not their own beliefs.
The bill, HR 2267 would allow United States land based gambling giants like Harrah’s to enter into the online gambling arena. It also would expressly prohibit companies that have, or have admitted to breaking United States law from entering the United States Market legally.
There’s still speculation as to whether or not United States friendly poker rooms like Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, Bodog and Players Only would able to operate legally within the United States, though there has been much speculation on both sides of the argument.
Rep. Bacchus proposed an amendment to the bill that would block any sites that have disregarded The United States laws regarding gambling online from qualifying for a license. That’s tricky now isn’t it. As it’s never really been proven that gambling online is illegal in and of itself, outside of a few states like Washington which have changed their own local laws to impose on their residents.
This exclusion was agreed on by the committee, the amendment was passed, so some say there’s a good chance that the biggest poker sites in the world right now would be excluded.