Two New Sponsors for Barney Frank Bill

May 04, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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As the deadline for the implementation of the UIGEA looms closer and closer, with one month to go before implementation, there has been no progress for Barney Frank’s online gambling bills. There has, however, been more support given to legalizing and regulating online gambling.

Two new co-sponsors for Congressman Barney Frank’s online gambling bill, HR 2267, have come forward. There are now a total of 68 co-sponsors on this bill. The two new co-sponsors are both Democratic Representatives.

In April, William Owens of New York, and Dina Titus of Nevada have both put their names alongside the others who have co-sponsored HR 2267. William Owens was the 67th co-sponsor of the bill, and Dian Titus was the 68th, and most recently added to the list of supporters.

As far as Dina Titus is concerned, she could be seen as quite a key supporter of the bill. Titus, being a representative from Nevada, is seen as a positive move for the online gambling bill. Nevada’s Congressional representatives are very influenced by the desires and wishes of the brick and mortar casino operators. It is not likely that Titus would have given her support to the online gambling bill if she did not feel the move would be acceptable to the land-based casinos in Nevada.

This means that Titus must have thought it was a good idea to lend her support to the bill, and that some of the larger land-based gambling operators in Nevada must be giving at least some support to the idea of online gambling. Many that are involved with land-based gambling do not want online gambling to succeed because it takes away significant amounts of revenue from land-based casinos.

The Frank online gambling bill is still on hold, after the bill’s committee hearing was suspended when Barney Frank had a scheduling conflict. There has been no news coming out of Frank’s office as to when the hearing will now take place. This is getting more and more concerning, and more and more urgent as the UIGEA is so close to being implemented if it is not stopped.

The companion bill to HR 2267 has a plan to put the UIGEA implementation on hold for another year, since the six month extension that was granted by the Treasury is about to expire, and it will take time for the online gambling bill to go through the official channels.