WASHINGTON — On most issues, Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, and Nevada’s Democratic Sen. Harry Reid are thorns in each other’s sides.
Reid hates oil subsidies. Barton is such a defender of oil companies that last year, he apologized to BP for Congress’ pointed inquiry into its mismanagement of the Gulf spill.
Reid has spent most of his career trying to kill the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Barton is one of Congress’ biggest backers of getting it up and running, and predicted that: “I have a feeling we will, before the end of this year, do so.”
But despite their differences, these two are shaping up as a dream team for the online gaming community and its efforts to legalize Internet poker — and Internet poker only — this year.
Why a dream team is needed became apparent when California Republican Rep. John Campbell and Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Barney Frank introduced in March broader legislation to legalize Internet gambling. It seeks to amend the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act by expanding consumer protections, introducing a licensing procedure for Internet gambling providers, and stepping up enforcement against illegal operators through the Treasury Department.
Frank steered an identical bill through the House’s Financial Services Committee last year when he was chairman. But under the new House majority, Alabama Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus controls that committee, and he is no friend to Internet gambling. In fact, none of the congressional committee chairmen with jurisdiction over the Campbell/Frank bill are: Bachus, Lamar Smith of the Judiciary Committee, and Dave Camp of Ways and Means.
So, enter Barton, who brings a new bill, a new face, and a new committee to the mix.
Barton is chairman emeritus of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is where Barton intends to bring up his bill. The legislation is still a work in progress, but he expects to officially introduce an Internet poker-only bill this summer.
Poker has emerged as the most popular, and thus most promising source of potential tax revenue for the federal government and states that would license the operators.
In the past few years, poker has built a following that goes beyond casinos: A community of 15 million plays the game online, and it has become a spectator sport, with tournaments drawing millions of viewers to broadcasts on sports networks.
Barton is a fan of the game.
....作者: soloist_huaxin 时间: 2011-6-22 10:56
谁也不知道这消息是好是坏...415之后我一直跟着这些消息，目前看来Barton还是势力有限，几年了都是Barney Frank和John Campbell两个人在整online poker立法。至于Harry "Harrah's" Reid...正常人都知道他收了Harrah's等人多少钱。不过相比现状而言总归是进步，原来的financial committee被死硬的online gambling反对者Bauhaus接手，才有Barton想在能源和商务委员会推动法案这一出。Barton号称本周能起草完整部法案提交国会讨论。目前的担心是搞成像pokerstars法国/意大利那样的国内站，仅限国内玩家，另一点是PS/FTP还有没有可能重回美国市场（毕竟他们现在是被通缉的）...（个人看法，第二点基本已经成事实了，vegas那一票人都盯着online这块蛋糕好久了）作者: huihui3676 时间: 2011-6-24 08:33
政策与对策的较量作者: tomroad 时间: 2011-6-25 06:28
希望是个好消息作者: jetaime1599 时间: 2011-6-26 16:41
希望美国可以早点回归作者: zhouliyan 时间: 2011-6-27 18:11
期待好的消息出台。作者: grewuplin 时间: 2011-6-28 23:37
美国人是我们收入的来源，期待网上打扑克合法化
