Bill To Ban Web Poker Might Get Hearing Next Month

A Sheldon Adelson-backed plan to ban online poker across the United States might get a hearing on Capitol Hill on Mar. 5, a source close to the situation reportedly said.

The bill is Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s (R-Utah) H.R. 707, which has been dubbed the “Restoration of America’s Wire Act”. It aims to undo the progress made in December 2011 when the U.S. Department of Justice re-interpreted the 1961 law to allow for states to pursue online gaming within their own borders if they so chose. Even though the lawmaker in question is a Republican, Chaffetz’s bill is seen as an anti-state’s rights proposal.

The House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations reportedly is the place where the bill sits. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 4.

According to www.govtrack.us, the bill has a one-percent chance of becoming law, but there’s always the possibility of its language being inserted into an omnibus bill. That has many in the poker community worried, as Adelson has pledged to spend “whatever it takes” to thwart online gaming in the United States. Three states currently have it legalized.

There have been federal hearings on the online gaming topic in the past, but if there’s one on Mar. 5 it will be unique because instead of being an open discussion of the pros and cons of online gaming, it apparently will be all about the proposed prohibition.

The last online gaming hearing on Capitol Hill was in late 2013.

No witness list has been released and though a Mar. 5 hearing is listed on the House Judiciary Committee’s website, Chaffetz’s bill isn’t currently listed on the agenda.

Similar anti-web poker legislation was around last year, but didn’t have any progress.

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