Bill Regulating Online Poker Submitted to Senate

While the bill only addresses games of skill, any corrosion of the UIGEA may be seen as a positive first step toward a a full regulation of Internet casinos.

More and more federal legislators are introducing bills designed to circumvent or repeal the UIGEA. Today, Senator Robert Menendez plans to propose a bill which would license and regulate online poker and other games of skill.

Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, is the first Senator to bring forward a measure against the UIGEA. The new bill mirrors legislation brought into the House by Representative Robert Wexler.

Wexler's bill was first introduced in June 2007. Twenty-two other Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors.

The Poker Players Alliance hailed the Menendez bill as another attack against the improper ban of online gambling set up by the UIGEA. Former Senator Alphonse D'Amato, chairman of the PPA, said, "This action by Senator Menendez is yet another example that prohibitions on Internet gambling, and specifically poker, will not work to protect consumers."

While the bill only addresses games of skill, any corrosion of the UIGEA may be seen as a positive first step toward a a full regulation of Internet casinos. Now that both the House and Senate have a number of bills circulating that will render the UIGEA obsolete, the question is only when, not if.