HR 2267 Not Likely Before November Elections

September 24, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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Although many had been hoping that HR 2267 would make it through to an early debate, and would reach the House floor before the November midterm elections, it does not look as if it will move forward as quickly as hoped.

The bipartisan measure HR 2267, is the hope of the online gambling world in the United States, in that it will bring legalization, and therefore the first step to regulating online gambling that is sought by many across the board.

Barney Frank and others had hoped that HR 2267 would get debated on the House floor before the November elections take over and will keep Washington DC distracted for some time.

HR 2267 was approved by the House Financial Services Committee in July, after a wait of nearly a year. Barney Frank is the chair of this committee, and also the author of the bill. The bill was approved after a number of amendments were agreed upon.

Frank said, "I'm not optimistic," when asked about whether he thought the bill would be able to move forward in the near future. He explained that there was no commitment at this time from the Democrat House leadership that would help the bill to move forward in the process before traditional lame-duck session.

Frank was party to the delay of the online gambling bill in his committee, and is now trying to push the bill forward as quickly as he can. It was unclear to the public whether Frank engineered the delay so that the bill would be debated at a more optimal time, or simply because there was other business at hand. Initially, the delays were caused by the economic crisis, but later, when the bill was scheduled for debate, Frank was out of town, and it had to be rescheduled.

Now, however, Frank has lobbied senators in order to try and convince them to move the bill up more quickly. However, there does not seem to be any progress to note.

While the bill may not be a priority for the House, the results of legalizing online gambling will bring in large amounts of much needed revenue in the form of both taxation, and also in licensing fees.

What now remains to be seen is whether the bill will be dealt with in the lame-duck session or not. It would most likely be better for the bill to be dealt with in a regular session, rather than a lame-duck session.