Thread: What year will the USA legalize online gambling?

Ok, we all know the legalization of online gambling HAS to happen in the US at one point or another for obvious reason. Many were (and still are) hopeful that this will occur during the Obama administration once some of the other 'major crises' in the US are dealt with, but what year will this happen? How much longer until Barney Frank and his constituents are able to get a bill such as the Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act passed?

Nothing will happen this year, as no politician will want to have to deal with the "morale" issue going into the mid-term elections. After that, we will have serious efforts, but it will take time to get it through Congress.

I'm going with 2012 before the Presidential elections. Something the Dem's might want to get done near the end of Obama's first term.

I would love to be as optimistic as the writers in this thread, but I see no signs of legalization anytime soon, economic crisis or not. Barney Frank's initiatives are appreciated, but his bill is far, far from being a law. I see no reason to assume that anything will happen under the Obama Administration. If it was a priority something would have happened by now. But if you have information/articles that will make me think otherwise please provide them. I will like to be proven wrong.

Originally Posted by nielsenj

I would love to be as optimistic as the writers in this thread, but I see no signs of legalization anytime soon, economic crisis or not. Barney Frank's initiatives are appreciated, but his bill is far, far from being a law. I see no reason to assume that anything will happen under the Obama Administration. If it was a priority something would have happened by now. But if you have information/articles that will make me think otherwise please provide them. I will like to be proven wrong.

I don't believe any "hard facts" exist, so any responses to this poll are pure speculation. Personally, here is why I believe it will happen during the Obama administration:

1) The U.S. is poor - the national debt is over $12 trillion dollars - the tax revenue from online gambling is definitely attractive on both the federal and state level.

2) Harrah's hires Mitch Garber (ex-CEO of PartyGaming), does a deal with 888, and launches CaesarsCasino.com & WSOP.com. These are US-facing brands -- my belief is they are lobbying hard for regulation as they will likely be one of the first beneficiaries of a law change.

3) UIGEA is an absolute nightmare for banks to administer. The banking restrictions are at the heart of this bill, and if those can't be implemented, then my thought is the government will truly understand the ineffectiveness of the laws.

If anyone responded to this poll with online gambling being legalized in the US in 2015 or sooner, please state your reasons as well.

I voted for 2015+ ...

The main reason is that the opponents are entrenched - and financial facts don't really seem to matter in this issue. You have people staking their political careers on the fact that online gambling is "evil' and will not be passed on their watch.

You also have a significant proportion (10% ?) of the general population that think it's a good thing that this ban is in place - typically religious groups - and they will continue to hang onto that belief despite any attempt at presenting evidence to the contrary.

I do not see that ANY political force can afford to alienate this group of people over an issue that is still a relatively minor issue (compared to health reform, bank regualtion, war in Iraq/Afganistan, and general econoic woes).

While this issue COULD help financial taxes, it is going to cost votes to implement and force though - and I do not expect Mr Obama to have the will to fight this fight in his first (and only?) term.

He does not want to go down as the "gambling president".

None of us know.. But should the day come - I hope it's an wide open market - not controlled by Harrahs. If it happens and it's fair for all of us.. My family will gain big time - As I have many US players emails. OUr company would love to enter the US market with a provable fair and honest REAL CARDS online poker game..

Time will tell - Let's just say I'm focused on ASIA.

I'm going with 2012.

It's coming and fast, but has a lot of bureaucracy to deal with.

The NFL is now in favor of online gaming - now how come I knew that would happen when Harrah's came out in favor?

I bet Harrahs and the NFL now regret having caused favorable laws to stall and supported UIGEA. I bet they thought that it would be easy to turn around once they got their online presence prepared.

Well, maybe they'll surprise us and it will work out just as they planned.