Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) has nearly completed the draft of his much-talked about online poker bill, which could be introduced to the House Energy and Commerce Committee as early as this week, according to several sources. Barton is the chairman emeritus of this committee and is considered a respected and senior Republican in his party.
A number of details about the new online poker bill were revealed last week.
* Online poker sites would need to be registered by the gaming commission of a state where gambling is already allowed.
* A new federal gaming commission will be created in order to oversee regulations.
* Individual states could choose to opt out of the legislation.
* Those who opt out will not receive revenues from online poker sites that result from a change in legislation.
His very status could prove an important advantage for the new bill and see it succeed where others have failed. The executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, John Pappas, who has been collaborating with Barton on the bill for a few months now, said about the Republican: “He’s respected, not only with the more socially conservative, but the more fiscally conservative caucus within the House, and brings a really credible voice to this issue because he understands why regulation makes sense, not only from the perspective of a lawmaker, but also that of a poker player.”
Barton is a keen poker player but does not wager online. He said of his initiative from a Republican perspective that the bill is “not a Republican leadership initiative, but they’re aware of it.”
He also said that this was a “sensitive issue, but an issue where’s there’s a majority consensus in the House and Senate to make this change.”
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