House Judiciary Hearing Sways One

During the hearings of the House Judiciary Committee seems to have swayed one of the congressmen to favor legalized online gambling, this is Rep. Earl Blumenauer a Democrat from Oregon.

Blumenauer has signed on as a co-sponsor of the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act placing him with forty other congressmen who are in favor of this piece of legislation replacing the current Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This legislation that is now in force while it may not exactly restrict American citizens from gambling online it does restrict them using their banks or credit cards as payment for their online gambling.

 

Rep. Blumenauer had originally voted for the current piece of legislation with many other congressmen and congresswomen to protect Americans from online gambling; however since these hearings where several poker pros spoke it seems to have made this Representative rethink his position on online gambling.

 

This bill that is gaining popularity among congressmen and congresswomen is one that Rep. Barney Frank purposed, though at least two others have been drafted, one by Rep. Robert Wexler whose bill excludes online poker as a game of skill and one by Rep. Shelley Berkley whose bill states that a survey needs to be done to explore online gambling and what action congress should take in the best interest of Americans.