70th Co-Sponsor for HR 2267

August 08, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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HR 2267 was marked up last week, and it seems that as a result of this, and the adjustments that were made to the bill, the online gambling bill has a new co-sponsor. This takes the number of co-sponsors up to 70. There was a long wait between the 69th co-sponsor, and the 70th, however, it does seem clear that the reason that Congressman John Campbell is now happy to support the bill because of adjustments that were made at the markup.

The Republican Congressman, John Campbell, was a voice that was certainly heard at the markup of the online gambling bill HR 2267, that took place last week in the House Financial Services Committee. The bill is one that concerns regulating and legalizing online gambling in the United States, and is one that has many supporters, and of course, many who are against the bill.

It seems that Congressman Campbell's main concerns with regard to the online gambling bill is that there should be sufficient consumer protection. There were 18 amendments that were passed, and he was connected to a few of them. Firstly, he was concerned that there should be loss limits set by those who are gambling online, so that they should be protected from gambling with money that they cannot afford to spend. Loss limits also help problem gamblers to stay in control of their finances. Congressman Campbell was also concerned that there should be other precautions set up to keep underage gamblers away from online gambling, and to help problem gamblers to stay in control. His contribution also included that online gambling games should show the winning odds of each game.

It seems that once the above issues were clarified, and the bill was amended to include them, Congressman Campbell felt that he could support the online gambling bill, and he publicly came out to do so by becoming the 70th co-sponsor of HR 2267.

After it took so long for the online gambling bill to begin its journey through the legal channels, it is most likely to be slowed down again because of Congress' summer recess. The summer recess, which starts on August 9th, and continues to September 10th, will however, only be the first expected delay, because on October 8th, Congress adjourns for the mid-term general elections, which will most likely cause further delays.

Even if progress might be a little slow at this time, the fact that the bill has already achieved markup is certainly a step in the right direction.