FreedomAtStake's Blog

Lawmakers to vote on suspending the UIGEA

By FreedomAtStake | View all Posts
Posted Monday, June 23, 2008 10:07 AM   19 comments
Things are about to get very interesting on the Hill.

Tomorrow, June 24, should see a scheduled vote by the US House Committee on Financial Services regarding H.R. 5767. Specifically, that bill is  Barney Frank's legislation to effectively suspend the UIGEA from ever being enforced.

So, what does this mean?

Well, Democrat Barney Frank sponsored the bill and is also the Chairman of the Committee, so that's a good sign. The bill was co-sponsored by Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, who also sits on the committee - another good sign. As well, the number of Democrats on the committee outnumbers the Republicans.

So, all things considered, one would have to think that this bill has a pretty good chance of passing through this vote.

But what then?

That's when things get cloudy because this vote, for all the promise it brings for the dismissal of the UIGEA, is really pretty preliminary. A positive vote by a committee, even a committee as powerful as this one, is by no means a guarantee that a bill will become law.

Many a bill has been passed by House committees and never ever saw an overall House vote, let alone become a law.

Of particular mention are the numerous anti-online gambling bills introduced by Jon Kyl over the years. There was a period between 1996 and 2004 when Kyl or one of his dunderheaded colleagues would regularly have their anti-gambling bills rubber stamped by this same committee (then Republican dominated) only to see them rarely actually proceed to the floor for a significant up-or-down vote before the end of the current session in Congress or the Senate.

So is tommorrow's vote important? Yes.

Is it worth celebrating a win? Kinda.

Should you expect a lot of immediate changes? No.

That being said, a positive vote tomorrow would go a long way toward encouraging zealous law enforcement officials to back off from pressuring banks and companies to begin implementing required UIGEA changes. So get used to the status-quo.

It might also encourage more foreign banks to begin to at least consider re-evaluating their position on online gambling transactions, but that is a lot less likely.

But if you (hopefully) combine a positive vote on Tuesday with the increased pressure from the EU over America's illegal trade barrier against foreign online gambling companies, and suddenly there is a perfect storm of momentum growing both against the UIGEA and for the legalization /regulation of online gambling in America.

That can only be good.

 
19 comments
comment Post A Comment
Chingas says:
06/23/08 10:26AM
BestBetsotBoard says:
06/23/08 02:21PM
Ron Paul anything is all good!!!
lanastasis says:
06/23/08 03:52PM
It is promising that this is in the news to begin with. Encouraging stuff.
HeadOverHeart says:
06/24/08 02:36AM
Kyl and his fellow douchebag Republicans need to remember the spirit of which the U.S. was founded, mainly the right of one to follow their own pursuit of happiness, and stop trying to LEGISLATE MORALITY from Capitol Hill. This is so far away from what the Founders intended, it is shocking, especially since these Republicans are supposedly "states-right" and usually oppose wide-sweeping federal legislation which does not give individual states the right to legislate their own domain.

But, I guess if you are the HORSE-RACING LOBBY, you can get away with bloody murder. If you don't know what I am talking about, enjoy below:

http://majorwager.com/index.cfm?page=27&show_column=493

Follow the dirty money...

steinmans80 says:
06/24/08 10:15PM
I tried searching for the outcome but did not see anything?
RissyGold says:
06/24/08 11:38PM
According to www.polfeeds.com, it looks like this was pushed off to Wednesday's Agenda. Meetings start at 11AM. Our topic appears to be second on the list. The site claims that you can watch the hearings live! This bill is in the first stage of the legislative process where the bill is considered in committee and may undergo significant changes in markup sessions.

I also saw on another site that there are 20 co-sponsors: 18 Dems, 2 Repubs (Peter King [R-NY] and Ronald Paul [R-TX]).

We'll reconvene here at 2300 hours tomorrow night.

FreedomAtStake says:
06/25/08 10:17AM
Looks like the vote is delayed until today.
steinmans80 says:
06/25/08 08:07PM
I could not play the video, so it would be great if someone could tell me what happened.

Thanks

Philly215 says:
06/25/08 08:12PM
I called my rep. Tim Mahoney (FL Democrat) who is on the comittee of financial services and let him know just how i feel about passing this HR 5767. I mean we have leagal poker at all the dog tracks and they just passed black jack at state casinos here in FL. I love playing online poker tournaments and now its a freakin 3 week process to make an online deposit. Its a joke really. Poker is NOT GAMBLING. WAKE THE FUGG UP!!
RissyGold says:
06/25/08 11:11PM
All I see is "HR 5767 - defeated"...this is disappointing. So we move on...I am sure Barney Frank and friends will continue to fight for us! Seeing how the UIGEA passed to begin with (as an amendment to the 9/11 Safe Ports Act), maybe we can stealth our cause to the current hot button bill, either the Foreclosure Bailout (which will screw up our National economy more!) or the Oil/Gasoline Bailout when that comes out (not if, but when it comes out).

Philly215: If poker is not gambling, what is it? A scratch off lottery ticket?? Poker is the most raw form of gambling there can be!

steinmans80 says:
06/26/08 12:40AM
Wow I cannot believe it, it lost 39-27, but the amendment to HR 5767 barely lost 32-32, we needed one more I (Eye), I cannot believe it.
Philly215 says:
06/26/08 10:32AM
If you believe that than its not even worth my time explaining, Poker is and always will be a game of skill.
Philly215 says:
06/26/08 10:33AM
Yeah the King amendment would have at least make the bureaucrats define what it is they are banning. This enitre process makes me fuggin sick.
Philly215 says:
06/26/08 10:38AM
How is poker a more raw form of gambling than sports betting? You have a decesion on when to move your money in and out of pots based on statistical percentages of likely outcomes. Sports betting and most other casino games give you NO CONTROL or decesion of how your money is played.
lanastasis says:
06/26/08 02:14PM
Philly215 -- Sports betting at its most sophisticated form is more skill/statistics oriented than poker at its most sophisticated form. Both genres should be called gambling because most players do rely on luck, not skill. A few do not. But trust me, you can get far more technical and statistical and reliable with sports betting than with poker.
Philly215 says:
06/26/08 06:40PM
I would have to disagree and say that most poker players do not rely on luck. I win year after year playing the game. Knowing the percentages combined with detecting betting patterns and experience makes poker a very profitable game for me on a consistent basis.
RissyGold says:
06/26/08 10:43PM
Poker is skill?? Poker has a limited few elements of skill. Bowling is skill, archery is skill. Driving a car is skill. Skee ball at the NJ shore is skill! Skill is man vs. object or task.

Poker is not all about statistical advantage...ask Layne Flack. Layne has been known to play blind many-a-hand, and be very successful at it. If that is not the true definition of raw gambling, I don't know what is. Poker goes way beyond the math and looking for betting patterns (the on-line mentality of the game); poker goes beyond risk assessment. Poker is personal battle. A one-on-one war of making someone crumble to pressure or beating them with the nuts (or the opposite)...Poker has passions...and that is raw.

Sports betting is statistical analysis: determining winners and understading the cost (not value) of the spread or money line. It's a wager, nothing more. Player vs. house. Adn the house never folds a hand! All you have with a wager is risk analysis: does the cost of making the wager bringing a favorable ROI (return on investment). Picking winners, from what I read, is easy (tens of millions of people wager, none of them ever admit to losing); making a true profit from those winners...ay there's the rub laddy!

So yeah, waste some of your time and explain it to me, because I guess I just don't get it.

jopiscopo says:
08/07/08 02:06PM
While experienced players may be more skillfull than rookies at playing the game. I would wager on the fact that many experienced poker players don't make it to the final table every time. If poker only relied on skill then we would see the same people at the final table EVERY time...Right?
dbear808 says:
08/22/08 08:55AM
Poker is a sick combination of luck and skill. If poker were true skill, final tables of major tournaments such as WSOP Main Event, all WPT events etc..... would have nothing but established pros at them. Do we see this? NOPE!! We have wide varieties of first-time amatuers, part-time pros and recreational cash game players at these tables on a regular basis. Tournament play is not about "getting your money in good", its about winning races when some clown calls an all-in bet with A6 and you have a 77 or 88. The very best players make their money in cash games, not tournaments. A good cash game player cashes in tournaments by grinding out small gaines each round of blinds; hoping to win races (i.e get lucky) to stay alive. When "real cash" is on the line, thats when poker becomes a game of skill.
Add your response:
Please note that the blogger has the option of reviewing all comments before they are displayed to the public. Your comment may not be published immediately.
 
Advertisement