Internet Gambling Hearings are schedule today at 2:30 PM in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. It is widely expected that some form of regulated internet gambling legislation will be made into law sometime in 2011 or 2012. While there are several industry analysts that do not agree that the regulations will take place so fast, we have seen a some activity on Capitol Hill of late regarding the subject.
“The flurry of hearings clearly shows how momentum is building for Congress to move on this issue," stated Michael Waxman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. "There is no longer a question of why it is important to regulate the industry. It’s just a question of when to do it. The bottom-line is that government regulation and oversight represents the only opportunity to protect consumers and capture the jobs and economic benefits of this already-thriving underground industry.”
The tribes are currently concerned that the United States government will push them out of the internet gambling market in favor of other land based casino interests. Anyone that remotely paid attention during history class growing up knows that the American Indians got a raw deal. One of the concessions the United States made to the various tribes was to allow them to offer gaming from their reserves.
As pointed out by Steven Stradbrooke on CalvinAyre.com in an article titled Indian Tribes Warn US Gov't Not To Break Gaming Promises, several of the current draft legislation working it's way through the halls of Congress completely ignore the tribes.
"Tribal casino nations have expressed concerns over their sovereignty should Internet gambling become legalized," stated Christopher Costigan, Publisher of Gambling911.com. "The poker industry understands and respects the powerful Indian casino lobby and is working hard to appease them. Many tribes in California have begun to work with lawmakers who are pushing for state legalization, understanding the inevitable regulation of the Web poker industry and ways in which they can capitalize."
Several, 240 of the 565 federally recognized tribes, rely on gaming to generate revenue for their communities. We expect the tribes to continue to hold Congress's feet to the fire on the issue to insure they can take advantage of lucrative online business.
Richard Muny, a Regional Director of the Poker Players Alliance told Pokerati.com: "The Senate committee hearing is excellent news for the poker community, as this is not the type of hearing where the poker community would necessarily expect to be invited to provide testimony. The invitation was due both to Sen. D’Amato’s esteemed background and to the activism of all of us in the poker community. Getting a hearing scheduled prior to the Thanksgiving recess was an accomplishment as well."
While I think its great that this topic is being addressed, even on a limited basis, I do not think that it should be limited to just internet poker. All forms of internet gambling should be allowed. It's happening, ignoring it and/or keeping online casino games or online sports betting illegal is just plain stupid. It should be all or nothing in my opinion. If Vegas, and hopefully soon to be New Jersey, allow for online sports betting to it's residence, why can't other states do the same?
