Online Casino Bill Close To Congressional Hearing

Online casino is a growing phenomenon in households nationwide, many people sit down after a hard day's work and login to try their luck at online gambling. Some play professionally, others for recreation, but both probably feel that there is little harm in doing it. The House of Representatives thinks differently about the issue.

Jim McDermott's proposal to use revenue collected from online gambling taxes to fund foster care will soon receive a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee. Representative Jim McDermott's bill taxing online gambling and using the revenue to fund foster care programs may have a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee as soon as next week, according to a report by PokerNews.com. The bill, a companion piece to Barney Frank's measure detailing regulation for Internet gaming, will most likely be discussed on the 19th or 20th.

While there has been a fair amount of informal talk about online gambling among the members of Barney Frank's Financial Services Committee, the topic will be new and unfamiliar to many members of the Ways and Means Committee. John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, says his group is trying hard to educate Congressmen on the subject before the hearing.

"It will be a really interesting day, and we're spending a lot of time between now and then to talk to as many folks as we can on the committee, We'll see what members show up, and who cares about the issue." said Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance, John Pappas.

The bill was House Resolution 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. Essentially, the bill would spell out and redefine existing federal laws that would outlaw online gambling. The legislation makes it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to gambling sites and also increases the maximum prison sentence from two years to five years. It also opens the door for law enforcement agencies to force Internet Service Providers to remove all links to those online wagering sites.

The focus of the committee will also be different than the discussions Frank has led so far. While previous talks were about proper regulation as protection for consumers, the new hearing will concentrate on the amount and reliability of revenue that can be generated by taxing online casino and online poker rooms.

John Pappas says there may be some talk of preventing problem gambling and guarding against money laundering, but also asserts that "...I think it's mostly going to focus on how much money can be raised from this and if it's reliable revenue the government can use to fund programs over the next 20 years."

Barney Frank's bill was scheduled for a hearing last month, but the date was postponed due to a conflict in Frank's itinerary. No new date has been set.