Here’s a quick rundown of what’s going on in one of the hungriest industries out there, and, game of skill or not, the parent biz of our beloved little poker world:

ALABAMA — A small little gambling fight is going down in the land Spencer Bachus represents, over a matter of semantics, technology, and the millions of dollars bingo machines represent. Bingo is legal in ‘bama … but should video bingo be? The fight is a dirty — complete with one agency repeatedly trying to raid a well-monied operation that believes it’s on the right side of the law.

CHINA — After a slow start, gambling revenues in Macau are reaching record levels.

IOWA — The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission’s computer system got hacked, and they’re blaming China:

Chinese foreign ministry officials strongly disputed the report, issuing a statement calling it “full of bias and ulterior motives.”

Personal information in the breach included names, Social Security numbers, home addresses and dates of birth. Most of the people in the licensing database are Iowa residents, but it also includes residents of Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin and other states, Ketterer said.

The list includes workers such as card dealers, slot machine technicians, jockeys, trainers and owners of horses and greyhounds.

LOUISIANA — The New Orleans-to-Shreveport casino-biz is in a definite recession, one not planned for when the state planned on becoming the central-coast alternative to Las Vegas and Atlantic City. They blame Texans for not gambling enough Oklahoma and Mississippi for cutting in on their action.

NEW JERSEY — Big fight going on over laws related to the building of Revel — the east coast’s $2.5 billion version of CityCenter. Should be an interesting development to watch go up (or down) as New Jersey fights to stay competitive with the smaller casino operations set to open shop in Delaware and Pennsylvania, but not Maryland.

MARYLAND — Gov. Martin O’Malley is saying Maryland’s not gonna jump into the gambling expansion fray, despite assertions that his state is gonna lose out as neighboring locales up their casino offerings to include table games + poker.

OHIO — As we know, Lyle Berman has effectively bought himself a piece of all the newly legalized action to come in Cincinatti, Cleveland, and Toledo. But he’s run into some blowback over the location of a new casino in Columbus. The constitutional amendment voters approved in November called for a full-blown casino-resort downtown, but now a referendum on a May ballot will decide if the Penn Gaming development should be moved to a blighted part of the city.

Related: “It’s Lyle’s Ohio Now”

UNITED KINGDOM — Once upon a time, Great Britain was leading the world in all things online gambling. But regulations and tax issues are messing that up — and it’s turning into a battle of Labour vs. the Tories for the UK’s gambling future. Good rundown on some British gambling-law history and where the different parties stand on gambling in the UK … as the rest of Europe catches up.

A presumably friendly game outside of Pittsburgh got robbed last week …

From the Associated Press:

Police Chief Vernon Barkley says the game was held at the Heidelberg volunteer fire hall and was breaking up about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. That’s when the promoter, 53-year-old Sara Lazzaro, was hit on the head and accosted by three armed men who took an unspecified amount of money.

The chief says one player spent a lot of time on his cell phone, and police suspect he may have been conspiring with the robbers.

Hmm, this MO sounds familiar (though with less guns at this point). Am starting to think it may not be the same gang of poker bandits wreaking havoc nationwide, but rather independent cells using standard poker robbery procedure according to some sort of Anarchist’s Super/System. If the process that we have seen replicated in Dallas, Houston, North Carolina, Atlanta, etc. plays out … it shouldn’t be long before more violent firepower comes into play.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania supposedly has every intention of eradicating this problem before it really takes hold by offering fully legal games … but state officials are still bickering in Harrisburg over who gets how much of whatever proceeds that may or may not generate. Gov. Ed Rendell, state-repped casino interests, and now municipalities are all making different threats and demands down to single-digit tax percentages … and there’s even some additional fighting over who gets to appoint board members to oversee it all.

Pennsylvania still doesn’t have a state budget, btw, and apparently the remaining battles over poker (and other casino games) are the last thing holding it up.

More specific details on Pennsylvania poker’s legislative tangle here.

We have two major news stories in online gambling. The first is that former BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers has withdrawn his guilty plea in Missouri. And the second is the closing of Pitbull Poker, with rumors of criminal activity and arrests in Costa Rica. Those stories and other industry news.

The idea of using online gaming tax revenues to help fund elements of health care reform became part of the Congressional conversation this weekend. On Saturday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a possible amendment to the Baucus bill (America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009) that would rely on the passage of Rep. Barney Frank’s HR 2267 to set up a regulatory structure that would provide health care revenue.

According to the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, the tens of billions of dollars collected by the U.S. government from online gaming could offset health care costs going forward:

An increased focus on the benefits of Internet gambling regulation are expected as the Senate Finance Committee considers a proposal introduced on Saturday to use Internet gambling revenue to offset the costs of health care reform. The amendment offered by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) would dedicate Internet gambling tax revenue generated through implementation of the currently pending Internet Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2267) to increase low-income subsidies provided through the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. A PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis shows that collecting taxes on regulated Internet gambling would allow the U.S. to capture up to $62.7 billion over the next decade.

Wyden is a chairman of the Senate Finance subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness.

Nolan Dalla’s latest article on Poker News Daily has a point. Much of the focus is on the men who helped pass the UIGEA, giving little attention to the powerful women in Congress who now oppose our attempts to pass reasonable online poker regulation bills. No argument on that, but when he cites the female members of Congress who stand in the way of positive change, he lists:

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA)
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Gov. Christine Gregoire (D-WA)

Ummm, the last person is a governor! While she certainly screwed up online poker in Washington in a major way, she has little to do with the passage, or lack thereof, of federal legislation. Methinks Mr. Dalla got a little carried away with women who are “bad for poker.”

His advice to the PPA and the voting public is well-taken, though. The PPA should consider refocusing its media attempts at constituents who can make a difference, whether by votes or campaign donations. His closing remarks after the break:

More…

The issue of legalizing intrastate online poker in California seemed like a longshot for quite awhile, as AB 2026 was introduced in February of 2008 and not much has happened since. Though there is no question that Cali could use some extra revenue, the tribal casinos seemed to be the biggest barrier to moving this initiative forward. No more! Morongo recently took the initiative to reach out to legislators and even promised to advance 1/2 of the $10 million it would take to establish the online poker network.

According to the Sacramento Bee:

A proposal being circulated among gambling interests calls for a management structure with two representatives from card clubs and two from tribes, including a permanent representative from the Morongo band.

The plan was discussed at a recent gathering of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations. The group includes Morongo and powerful casino tribes including the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs and the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians in Temecula.

Morongo also circulated an e-mail inviting dozens of tribes for a conference call in which Forman and tribal councilman Damon Sandoval were to outline the “Morongo Initiative – Tribal Intrastate Poker Consortium.”

A couple of great pieces for weekend reading…

Amy Calistri always has eyes on the stock market and the corporate goings-on of poker-related businesses, and her latest take on the sale of the WPT assets is right on the money. She gives the latest about stockholder rage over the WPT/Gamynia move and puts into words what I’ve been thinking for years, since shortly after I left the WPT fold and began to notice its downfall. That’s not to say it can’t rise again, but it might need new leadership to make that happen. An excerpt:

Frustration and envy appear to be the seeds of the series of missteps that sapped millions of dollars and focus away from the company’s core business. While the WPT helped create the poker boom, its television production business model only got a small piece of the obscene profits that were being generated by poker’s popularity. Online poker companies and online media sites reaped the lion’s share. This infuriated the WPT; they felt they were owed.

Gambling law professor I. Nelson Rose can break down a legal document or political issue like nobody’s business, and it’s a good thing he took the time to analyze the Menendez bill introduced to the Senate this week. Thanks to Poker Grump, this piece takes a look at the 91-page document and sheds some light on the proposed participation of states in the regulation/licensing of online poker, the tax on deposits to online sites, and the possible exemption of sites like PartyPoker from licensing. A sampling from the article:

Taxes might be a problem. The Frank bills have no limit on what taxes states can impose on operators, but limit the federal government to what is called a fee of 2% on deposits. Menendez is asking for less and more: A Federal Internet gaming license fee of 5% of deposited funds and a State or Indian tribal government gaming license fee of another 5%. This does get over the big problem with the Frank bills, that the big states, like California, where the customers will be, have no incentive to support Internet gambling operated and taxed by Nevada. Under Menendez, California gets that 5% tax. Although the states won’t like this provision: Tribes are treated like states, so if a player is on Indian land, that tribe gets the full 5% and the state in which the tribe is located gets nothing.

Of course, the tax system is still screwy, since it is a tax on deposits, not revenue. But it might work.

As you probably know, the PPA is collecting short videos at MyPokerStory.com. The purpose, as far as I can tell, is to put something together for the coming legislative push that (quickly) shows on-the-fence Congresspeople that poker players are a diverse group of citizens, who care about the game for more than degenerate reasons, and ultimately that the our bills tap into a motivate-able mass spread across a wide spectrum of the American populace. Here’s PPA Chairman Al D’Amato’s poker story:

LOL, you can see why the PPA needs your help. (No offense, retired Senator … just saying they probably need more than just you to convey their message.) All it takes is a minute or two in front of your computer cam and a few clicks. I tried to submit mine, but it apparently violated YouTube TOS. (Hey, I can’t help that I learned so much at The Lodge. So she was naked … it’s still a bad beat.) So in the meantime, as a placeholder for Dan’s poker story, I’ve submitted this:

For a bunch of really good ones (and some humorously not so good) check ‘em out the poker stories here. On a serious side, OK, I’m making a little light, but these really are a good reminder of why the fate of a silly little computer game matters to so many.

Rep. Menendez has officially killed HB 222 on the floor of the Texas House, knowing that the Gov. won’t pass. He was able to spend a few minutes discussing why it should be allowed to proceed, only to be interrupted by several bad poker-related puns.

The Florida state legislature (with its Republican majority in both the House and Senate) closes its current session today to pass the state budget, as well as pass an expansion of gambling. The part the poker community cares about is the elimination of buyin limits in no-limit games (currently at $100) and the max bet in limit games (currently at $5). The gambling age increases from 18 to 21 and cardrooms will be allowed to be opened 18 hours a day weekdays, and 24 hours a day on weekends. Follow the debate on SB 788 (taking place now) live in the FL House here before it moves to the FL Senate here.

UPDATE: SB 788 passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate, now Gov. Charlie Crist negotiates with the Seminole Nation on a gambling compact which must be completed by August 31 The Legislature must then go back into session to pass the compact for the gaming bill to go into effect.

Kudos to Rep. Barney Frank for introducing the much-anticipated legislation this morning. The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act of 2009 has no H.R. number attached yet, but the process has begun. The name of the bill doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue or make for a nice abbreviation – IGRCPEA? – but might just be referred to as “The Bill” going forward. (Catchy?)

The 48-page bill provides for licensing, enforcement, and consumer protections regarding legal internet gambling, as detailed on the House Financial Services Committee website.

SUMMARY
The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act would establish a federal regulatory and enforcement framework under which Internet gambling operators could obtain licenses authorizing them to accept bets and wagers from individuals in the U.S., on the condition that they maintain effective protections against underage gambling, compulsive gambling, money laundering and fraud, and enforce prohibitions or restrictions on types of gambling prohibited by states, and Indian Tribes.

At the same time, Frank introduced a piece of companion legislation calling for the postponement of UIGEA regulations from this year’s compliance date of December 1, 2009 to one year later. Pushing it to 2010 gives “The Bill” time to progress as it may.

So, it’s on! According to Bloomberg, Harrah’s Entertainment and Youbet.com are already on board and ready to lobby on behalf of this bill. More to come in the weeks ahead, no doubt.

(Note: KevMath beat me to it again! Duplicate posts on this can be forgiven, eh?)

Rep. Barney Frank is set to introduce his pro-online gaming legislation tomorrow, complete with 10am ET press conference. With any luck, this will get some mainstream news coverage, but we can be assured of at least some C-SPAN live feed.

Someone at Bluff wrote a little ditty about it here, and the official press release from Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative below:

More…

As the online gaming industry anxiously awaits the introduction of pro-gaming legislation, the mainstream media has picked up on the story – online gaming versus the NFL and Christian Coalition. And today’s newspapers are all over the story, looking at the possible revenue for the U.S. government and online gaming’s enemies. Could this mean that Rep. Barney Frank is ready to introduce the bill in the coming days?

Eric Pfanner of the New York Times writes about the chance for legal online gaming in the U.S. here.

Frederic Frommer pits poker players against the NFL in this Chicago Sun-Times article.

The pressure – and the press – is on.

Fans of the National Football League probably didn’t start off on the right foot anyway, since football is done for awhile and they’re forced to see baseball games/references everywhere. But there is another source of annoyance for NFL’ers, and that is the knowledge that the biggest opponent of online gaming in the United States is their very own football organization.

The NFL has promised to fight any effort by Rep. Barney Frank to push legislation that legalizes online gaming. With a lobbyist, an office in D.C., and a PAC donation committee in place, the NFL is ready to fight online gaming with the help of the Christian Coalition and Rep. Harry Reid of Nevada. Wait…What? Reid on the same side of this fight as Bob Goodlatte? Yessirreee.

Well, one NFL fan in particular sees the ridiculousness of it all. Dan Boone, of Bleacher Report:

The NFL, always a bright beacon of morals in a blighted land, has decided to self-righteously step into the public morals debate. The NFL does not want a bill allowing online gambling, that is a current bill legalizing poker, to pass.

The NFL behemoth is so against people playing online poker that they have hired a high priced Washington Lobbyist, opened a DC office, and set up a PAC Donation committee to help its noble cause.

So that’s where ticket increase money goes. That’s why the stadium beers are nine bucks and the exhibition games are full priced flops. Perhaps that explains the PSL’s. The league needs just craves some spare change to pay some politicos for favors.

Read the rest of “NFL Declares War on Poker” here.

Rep. Barney Frank has yet to introduce (or reintroduce) the legislation, but the likelihood of its passage has already been debated and practically set up for defeat. But just as the words in poker and mainstream media outlets were being penned that any UIGEA repeal effort will likely fail, the PPA raised that bet.

Poker Players Alliance Chairman Alfonse D’Amato first put his thoughts into an article for The Hill with regard to the bipartisan support that has been building for this effort. Shortly thereafter, the Associated Press reported that the PPA has allocated $3 million for lobbying Congress during this upcoming session. (More details can be found in my article on the Bluff Magazine website.)

Sure, the NFL and other opposing groups may have stacks big enough to call that raise, but the PPA might just have the best hand in the end. Still early in the game…

The April 9th edition of The Poker Beat included a discussion about the possibility of poker legislation that would repeal the UIGEA, allowing companies like PartyPoker back into the U.S. Dan (the Wolfman?) made some solid arguments, but when he mentioned that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has the know-how to slyly attach pro-gaming legislation to another sure-thing bill to get it passed, he may not have been aware that Frank has declared his intent to complete the mission of repealing the UIGEA not with political trickery but rather a stand-alone bill.

In a conversation with The Hill, Frank said that attaching his bill to other legislation — as was done with the UIGEA — would be “inappropriate.”

“I want to do this with hearings, discussions, and votes,” he said.

While Frank’s desire to handle it on the House floor as opposed to in the back hallways is being praised by some, others see it as dangerous to the bill, as an intense focus/debate on it could make it more difficult to pass.

Let’s think about this for a moment. Frank has been on UIGEA-tilt since 2006, as was evident by his introduction of H.R. 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA), in April of 2007. He has likely been calculating the best way to repeal the UIGEA after fighting against it since its passage, and his decision to reintroduce H.R. 2046 as a standalone was not made lightly. Could he have some Republican aces up his sleeve? Does the recently-quiet PPA have a master plan to garner support for the bill? All of this remains to be seen, but methinks Frank would not have been so vocal – to mainstream media nonetheless – since January of his intention to repeal the UIGEA if he did not have a solid plan with which to proceed … which at this point, he is saying begins after Congress returns from their Easter break on April 20th.

The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, another lobbying organization on the side of internet poker players, released a statement first thing this morning regarding the recent 60 Minutes broadcast and corresponding Washington Post articles. SSIGI really doesn’t mince words, starting with wording that calls government prohibition of internet gambling being “a failure and a mistake.” More about legislation that would regulate the industry in the following statement:

“60 Minutes” and Washington Post Coverage Highlight Why Congress Should Regulate Internet Gambling and Protect Consumers

Current prohibition leaves Americans unprotected

Jeffrey Sandman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, today issued the following statement in regards to recent coverage on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and in The Washington Post on the dangers Americans face when they gamble online.

“The 60 Minutes and Washington Post stories demonstrate unambiguously that the existing government prohibition on Internet gambling is a failure and a mistake. The millions of Americans who continue to gamble online are vulnerable to being defrauded by offshore operators who exploit U.S. prohibition policies, leaving U.S. consumers without legal protections when they make a bet or play poker online. It is clear that a different approach is necessary to protect consumers, as well as to recapture the billions of tax dollars currently lost to offshore gambling operators and out of the U.S. economy. Now more than ever, Congress should understand why it should step in and regulate the industry to protect the public. We are hopeful that increased attention in the media about the issue will lead to increased movement in Congress.

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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.