Politics at Its Worst
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010We’ve reported several times on the UIGEA, and so far the poker community in the US has been very lucky to have it pushed back in terms of enforcement. But no more says Congressman Barney Frank. Frank, who has been a steadfast supporter of ridding the states of the bill and introducing regulation into the online gaming market, was surprisingly disappointed by this recent news to say the least, but at this point there’s not much more that can be done.
According to Frank, the enactment of this legislation will only speed up the process of showing the people and the members of Congress how flawed this legislation really is.
In strong-arm tactics, the republican party has decided to continue to block nominees to the US Treasury made by President Obama. This has in turn pressured Treasury Secretary to give in to Republican Sen. Jon Kyl’s demands that the bill proceed and be placed in effect on June 1st.
But this is just one battle. In a statement on the issue the Poker Players’ Alliance frontman John Pappas said, “The Treasury, the Federal Reserve, Congress, and the banking community agree that the legislation is overly broad and lack any key definition of ‘unlawful’ Internet gambling.” With that said, it seems to be indicating that everyone is expecting the poker players to find more loop holes to continue playing their game.
If only they would listen to the logic of regulation of the industry, perhaps they would realize that the tax revenue would be incredible. But what do we poker online players know, we’re just the 800 pound gorillas in the room?