Monday, September 24, 2012

Details Of Proposed Online Gaming Bill Emerge

WASHINGTON ? A bill being drafted by key senators would reshape online gaming, legalizing poker on the internet but outlawing other forms of gambling on the Web, in accordance with an overview circulating off and on Capitol Hill.

Niche has yet to become finalized and formally introduced, nonetheless it faces long likelihood of passing Congress within an upcoming lame duck session. Other bills that want to legalize Internet poker similarly have stalled.

The outlines with this latest push are already known for some time, but a four-page document obtained this week fills in details, including its creation from the Office of On-line poker Oversight, which may set standards to guard against cheaters and shield minors and problem gamblers.

The draft also proposes a 16 percent internet poker activity fee that would be paid monthly by licensed operators, with most in the proceeds funneled to states and Indian tribes.

States and tribes would have to opt into allow their residents to learn poker online. The federal government would designate no less than three entities, one possibly the Nevada Gaming Control Board, to share initial regulation powers using the new federal office.

Within probable nod to Nevada, licenses for that first 2 years would be granted to already-regulated operators of land-based casinos of a certain size and type, or manufacturers of regulated gaming devices.

But no operator could easily get started no less than 15 months to make sure a quantity playing field.

Internet poker cafes or other shops created solely for players to congregate would be prohibited.

The time and effort by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., with Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has cheered poker enthusiasts and casino corporations desperate to tap into the billions of dollars already being wagered by players at offshore websites.

At the same time, it offers caused trepidation among states cautious about analysis power grab and among tribal leaders suspicious that any bid to legalize online gaming would tilt to Las Vegas and from their reservations.

Gaming consultant Joseph Kelly, an enterprise law professor at State University of recent York College at Buffalo, said the summary confirms the views of both promoters and critics.

The draft is apparently very far reaching. Its very comprehensive, he said.

But Kelly added, It needs an awful lot of work in addition to awful large amount of discussion. Each of the state entities that now are frowning on federal regulation, this will buy them even angrier.

They desire Internet gaming to be a state matter, Kelly said. This almost does the exact opposite.

While legalizing Internet poker, the measure would reverse a December reinterpretation from the Justice Department that this 1961 Wire Act, which had prohibited gambling over wires, applied simply to sports betting and not other forms of online gaming.

As a result of reinterpretation, 16 states are moving on their very own to legalize online gambling within their borders, including expansions of lottery-style games.

The Reid-Kyl bill could stop those efforts because their plan declares all Internet gambling to become prohibited, apart from off-track horse-race wagering and licensed poker.

The bill imposes limitations on online lotteries. While states would be able to sell tickets online for daily lotteries, they would be prohibited from developing lottery games which could mimic slot machines.

Advocates of a national approach believe a patchwork of state legal guidelines would stymie online gaming.

The overall a result of the bill would be to strengthen federal prohibitions online gaming by expanding those prohibitions to incorporate the majority of the expansive Internet gambling that the? legal opinion effectively permits, based on the bill summary.

According to the bill summary, online gaming authorized, licensed and regulated by states by May 1 would be preserved. Kelly noted Delaware became the first state to permit full gambling online but didnt do so until June.

The legislation developed from an agreement between Reid and Kyl, who long has warned against growth in online gaming and believes the Justice Department opinion should be reversed.

The bill has drawn new attention after Reid and Heller got into a dispute this week over the strategy to get the legislation passed.

With Congress likely to recess a few weeks for your November elections, a postelection lame duck session would provide the final opportunity to move gaming legislation this season.

Hopes for a bill have grown to be slimmer when compared to a model around the Atkins Diet, poker blogger Jamie Hinks wrote on Thursday.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia. com or 202-783-1760. Follow him on Twitter @STetreaultDC.

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