HR 5767 Struck Down
Written by Renee K | Friday, July 4th, 2008
In the voting held on the 26th of June by the House Financial Services Committee the bill HR 5767 was defeated with a tied vote of 32 in favor and 32 against.
The HR 5767 aimed to overturn the ban on Internet Gambling brought about through the controversial Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, popularly referred to as UIGEA.
The HR 5767 was introduced on the 10th of April 2008 by the Democratic Representative from Massachusetts, Barney Frank and 20 co-sponsors. The objective of the Bill, which was placed before the House Financial Services Committee, was “To prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing, or implementing any regulation under subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, and for other purposes.” This in layman’s language meant that the ban on U.S. players transferring funds to online casinos should be held void.
The representatives of the Poker Players Alliance argued in favor of the bill before the Committee. The Poker Players Alliance better known as the PPA is an advocacy group of poker players with more than a million members across the country. The PPA was hopeful that the bill would be voted on favorably. But fate was against them. In roll call voting there was a 32-32 tie, which meant that the bill was defeated. It was overwhelmingly shot down in the oral vote.
PPA Chairman, D’Amato issued a statement on this defeat. He said that their opposition to the UIGEA stemmed from the lack of clarity in the UIGEA as to what constituted unlawful Internet gambling. To be on the safe side of the law the financial institutions, which were made to bear the brunt of the penal action, stopped transfer of funds to online casinos thereby putting U.S. players out of action. What HR 5767 sought to do was to create “a separate formal rulemaking with an administrative law judge to determine the definition of unlawful Internet gambling.” The Federal Reserve, Department of Treasury and the banking industry all testified before Congress that such a mechanism was required. However the opponents of HR 5767 hijacked the debate to non-germane issues such as the impact of gambling on children. D’Amato claimed that these moral issues, such as underage and compulsive gambling and money laundering through online sites, can be better addressed through effective regulation of the online gambling industry rather than outright prohibitions, which have historically never worked.
One way is to view this outcome pessimistically as a failure. The other way is to view the glass as half full. It was because of the tremendous effort put in by the proponents of online gambling such as the PPA, that there were 32 votes cast in favor of HR 5767. Continuation of the efforts will see favorable results in the foreseeable future. Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey attended the fundraiser dinner with Barack Obama in Los Angeles and met the Presidential hopeful. Though there was no discussion on the UIGEA this occasion is significant in the light of Obama’s acknowledgement that he does play poker.
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· Written by Renee K · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
