HR 5767, the poker legislation providing the quickest route to undoing the UIGEA, failed to make it out of committee today. This means anti-UIGEA efforts will likely have to rely on more hard work to rally support behind an unpopular issue than slick process maneuvers for now.

The bill was bare-bones from the start, and the plan was to attach an amendment — the King Amendment (Rep. Peter King - R, NY) — which basically said, “Yo, the banks have to cut off some legal businesses (horse racing) because of this UIGEA thingy and it’s not very effective against the bad guys anyway, so let’s do our banking pals a fave and suspend the whole damn thing while we figure it all out. Cool?”

Sounds like sensible government to me … but apparently some members of the House Financial Services committee were suspicious that sumpin’ was up … and the amendment fell one vote short, 32-32. (It’s a 70-member committee — not sure how it broke down, by party or otherwise, nor who the abstainers/no-shows were.) Without the King Amendment passing by a WIDE margin, the whole strategy behind sneaking pushing a quick bank-fix vote through Congress proper kinda fell apart, so committee chair Rep. Barney Frank decided not to put HR 5767 to a role call vote.

I am pretty sure this effectively kills 5767 … little to no chance it will be resurrected. And I have to say, the results of today’s committee hearing are pretty discouraging. More TK on why, but click below to read the statement from PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato, which just came over the transom:

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Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas did another one of his WSOP fly-ins for a couple days — manning the hallway booth and meeting with pros — but much of his time was spent away from the Amazon and in his room at the Rio, on the phone/computer/Blackberry with Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) et al. about HR 5767 — which is scheduled to be voted on in committee Wednesday or Thursday. While getting this bill on the agenda brings the notion of pre-UIGEA poker one step closer to reality, the measure also faces the threat of being voted down and derailed ’til next year or never.

It’s supposedly an all-in push that should hold up … and if HR 5767 — co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and 17 19 others — passes muster in House Financial Services, of which Frank is the chair, then it moves to the floor of Congress for a vote — preferably having shown strong bipartisan support in committee.

So what does this mean for you, the non-political poker types who are fine-and-dandy with playing unofficial WSOP satellites on Full Tilt and PokerStars? More fish, basically … and poker industry people would in some way or another have a say in what may or may not constitute Unlawful Internet Gambling that the Treasury Dept. could look into/stop. (You know, like online site owners who peek at hole cards … that should be unlawful, right?)

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In this week’s episode:

What are the SSIGI and HR 5767?
It’s Bob Goodlatte’s Worst Nightmare…
Barney Frank and Ron Paul have introduced HR 5767 to target the financial powers of the UIGEA, and they are receiving the backing of several prominent groups including the SSIGI… or the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative.

ePassporte Pushed Out of Industry…
Another one bites the dust…
Last Friday ePassporte abruptly abandoned their US Customers with little explanation. This week we learn that the US Attorney’s Office in New York has been putting the screws to them. Imagine that!

Legal Online Gambling in the US?
It’s no lie…
American citizens can use credit cards and ban accounts to fund their online gambling activities at this site that the US Government not only knows about, but actually encourages you to play at!

Since the UIGEA became law, poker has desperately needed a superhero to save it. With the U.S. government breathing down our necks, it’s been uncomfortable and a bit scary.

Some organizations have played significant roles in attempting to come to our rescue. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative are lobbying on our behalves, but it was going to take some actual members of our Congress to stand up and gain support for our cause.

We seem to have two of them in Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). Not only have them spoken out against the UIGEA, but they have now proposed new legislation to stop it. H.R. 5767 was introduced on Thursday, April 10th, to prohibit the implementation of UIGEA regulations by banks and financial institutions, basically rendering the UIGEA ineffective.

Read the press release from the House Committee on Financial Services here.

Could poker’s superheroes be Frank and Paul? Bet on it.

Now is the time for the poker community to step up and show their support for H.R. 5767. Tell your Congressional representatives to back this legislation and push it through. The PPA and SSIGI websites make it easy to do.

PPA provides a simple form here, as does SSIGI here.

On Thursday, we read that one of our favorite poker podcasts, Beyond the Table, was “out with a fizzle.” And apparently that’s fo’ shizzle. The skies suddenly had grown ominously dark. Would we ever smile again . . . ?

Well, here’s what looks to be a ray of hope. (At least for those of us who like to play online poker.)

Late this week, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) proposed a new House bill, H.R. 5767, the sole purpose of which is to stop the feds from finalizing regulations for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The bill comes on the heels of last week’s Congressional hearing at which multiple witnesses — including several representatives of U.S. payment systems and a couple of those involved with authoring the regs — communicated pretty loudly the unfeasibility of the UIGEA in its current state.

In fewer words than this post contains, H.R. 5767 pithily prohibits “the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing, or implementing any regulation” the feds come up with regarding the UIGEA. As yesterday’s press release from the House Financial Services Committee states, “it was clear at the [April 2] hearing that the regulations are unworkable for the financial services industry, and this bill would, therefore prohibit their implementation.“

No word as yet on how fast this sucker may climb its way up the Congressional ladder, but given the overwhelming response against the UIGEA following last week’s hearing, it seems H.R. 5767 may have a lot more initial backers than those other anti-UIGEA bills (like Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act).

We’re happy, right? Okay, so we’re not laughing ’til we wet ourselves. But we are smiling again. I guess there’s life beyond Beyond the Table . . . .

In this week’s episode:

Congressional Hearings on UIGEA…
Barney Frank Heads to the Hill…
We all know our friend Barney Frank isn’t shy about speaking his mind, calling UIGEA the “stupidest”law ever passed. Now, he’s taking his straight talk about the law before Congressional Committees on the issue. See what was said!

Coverage of the Amsterdam Conference…
Reporting from Amsterdam!
We’re hear and we’re causing trouble! See our exclusive report from the Casino Affiliate Convention, and where J. Todd has been having to spend the night!

For months, concerns have been expressed by U.S. financial institutions and members of Congress about the ambiguous nature of the UIGEA. The government doesn’t know how to enforce it, and banks don’t know how to comply.

Rep. Barney Frank has been one of the most outspoken members of Congress on this issue, as he feels his own bill - HR 2046 - would be more appropriate to regulate online gaming rather than attempt to ban financial transactions to the sites.

Today, there is a Congressional hearing entitled “Proposed UIGEA Regulations: Burden Without Benefit?” taking place on Capitol Hill. The Poker Players Alliance has a live stream of the hearing on their website.

Click here to check it out. (Beware: There are long periods of silence when the hearing goes to recess between panels.)

UPDATE: The hearings seem to be over, but the written testimonies are available at the link above.

In this week’s episode:

The Man Behind Poker Dream… Meet John Dutchak…
The “dream” is over, but the nightmare has just begun. John Dutchak swears he’s not the owner of the now destroyed Poker Dream Network, but family, friends, and former co-workers all say differently. And did we mention that the hundreds of thousands of dollars in player deposits are missing as well? Yea…

Tusk Gaming Gone… Players Money is Safe… APCW Member Saves the Day…
We tried to tell players not to worry! Even though the Tusk Gaming group folded, we knew that MicroGaming would honor the player’s cash on deposit. What we didn’t expect was that Rewards Affiliates would step in and manage the casinos left homeless by the collapse… but that’s just what they did!

UIGEA Enforcement to be Debated Within Weeks… Barney Frank Expected to Speak…
It only took one year, six months, and five days, but it looks like Congress will finaly discuss how to enforce the regulations they passed into las on September 30th, 2006. Barney Frank is expected to speak, and we know he’ll remind them all just how stupid this law is… we just hope he uses really small words to do so…

More proof that politics is way more about money than morals … Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is pushing for three resort casinos in his state. You would think we might say that’s a good thing — especially for Gonz. However, let’s hope it doesn’t pass … because buried deep inside the legislative initiative is a provision that would make it a serious crime to place a bet online.

If it does pass as-is, playing poker online would be punishable by two years in jail and a $25,000 fine. Rep. Barney Frank isn’t happy, because that’s a rake you just can’t beat!

What rubs me a little raw here is the short-sighted ignorance of politicians (and others) who don’t see how online gambling — at least as it applies to poker — actually helps feed their brick-and-mortar interests. I mean that’s just looking at the bucks and bolts of it. Forget about the morally offensive nature of criminalizing any solo activity perpetrated in one’s private bedroom.

What the people who care less about online poker and casinos for the people of Boston should be concerned about is yet another attempt to put laws into play that will ultimately require an internet police force to be set up to patrol our computer screens.

Let’s focus, political people: “Sensible government” is what the voters want to see in 2008! And when the PPA is siding with anti-gambling advocates, you know something doesn’t add up.

Just as the anti-poker side is encouraging their “pro family” members to write their representatives about the plagues that will fall if the UIGEA is undone, pro-poker ambassadors are also hard at work rallying the troops. Click below to see the letter Greg Raymer sent out seeking similar political activity from presumably lazy poker types.

Interestingly enough, I have a PokerStars account and am a paying member of the PPA … but didn’t get this email. (It was forwarded to me by Don the Las Vegas Real Estate Guy.) With the other side well-practiced in their methods of swinging votes, I gotta think the poker side may need some extra coordination to keep up with the competition. Perhaps the three federal bills in play would benefit from something similar to what we used in Texas to electronically connect the legislators and citizenry en masse. Seriously, this relatively small programming effort went a long way toward ensuring our beloved little HB 3186 was a good chunk of the hallway/bathroom buzz around the state capitol at a semi-critical time.

Again, Greg Raymer’s request below …

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Ken in Arlington writes in with a reminder that the fight for good poker laws and righteous regulation is being fought on multiple fronts. While Lavigne and others are doing their political masterwork in Austin, Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) are actively involved in undoing the UIGEA on the Federal and International level:

Hey Dan — Maybe this is already old news to you, but if not I certainly think this is a worthwhile blog item and link for you to post. The only congressman who spoke up strongly against the Internet bill last year hasn’t stopped fighting (though it says this happened last Thursday???):
http://tech.msn.com/news/articlecnet.aspx?cp-documentid=4797708&GT1=10036

A copy of Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act is here:

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/financialsvcs_dem/21frank_004_xml_(2).pdf

Love the site and all you put into it.

Ken Daley
NY Times and MLB.com free-lancer, former baseball columnist at Dallas Morning News
Arlington