Last Friday, a Wall Street analyst stated that, based on current events, he saw little likelihood that the U.S. Congress would address the issue of legalizing online poker and other forms of online gambling in the United States until at least next year, 2013. If true, this is sobering news for poker activists and players alike in the U.S., as this year, 2012, is only just getting started.
But is it true? What is his analysis based on? According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s report on February 17, 2012, the analyst, one Chad Benyon of Macquarie Securities, says that if online poker were on the table in Washington, it would very likely have appeared as a bill tacked onto the recently passed extension of the payroll tax cut. But it was not. In fact, it was specifically addressed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada in a press statement, when he stated that it definitely would not be attached in the bill presented for a vote (and passing) the following day.
This doesn’t rule out the possibilities that online poker could cross Congress’s desk some other way, including by a bill all its own, like the ones spearheaded by now retired Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank.
It also doesn’t rule out the possibilities of individual states legalizing and regulating online poker on their own, without the support of the federal government. Take Harry Reid’s own Nevada, for example, which just put the final touches on legislation to loosen the restrictions on online gaming in the state to minimum enforcement standards. That may go into effect as early as next month.