By Renee | July 1, 2011

It is always good to be ready to face the worst possible outcome when it comes to politics and federal legalization and regulation of online poker in the United States. Although, there is some hope in the state of Washington DC at least, considering Rep. Joe Barton from Texas is doing a lot to legitimize online poker in the state.

Click Here For Sites Still Accepting USA Players

Barton’s bill – the HR 2366 is a very good one on so many levels and seems like the best shot US online gambling operators and players have got in 2011. The bill has also got co- sponsors which includes seven democrats and republicans with a huge bipartisan support.

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) mentioned, “The legislation simply says that Americans should be able to play poker legally over the Internet from the privacy of their own homes. As we have shown in Nevada, well-regulated gaming protects players, operators and the integrity of the game, while also ensuring those who cannot legally bet are denied the ability to participate.”

HR 2366 has points in it which are very difficult to refute, nevertheless the bill should have a landslide of a vote. The bill presents an alternative where in states that do not choose to have gambling licenses, accepting bets from players inside the state can possible disable the access. This suits the conservative states who have always been opposed to gaming legalization.

The licenses issued for the first couple of years will be very strict while doing so and the initial ones will be given to the race tracks, casinos, card rooms who already have a land based licensing. These operators know the rules inside out already.

This cuts the chance of argument from the states which already have establishments as they will be in the queue to get a part of the earlier revenues. HR2366 states that offshore operations which used to make money through internet poker business in the past will all be shutdown, which is a complete disaster for poker tycoon Pokerstars.com. PokerStars is still a big hit among American poker players as it quickly paid the customers back their funds after the shutdown.

The legalization of online poker has a great party to play in the country’s economy. As rightly pointed out H2 gambling capital, a data and market intelligence company, said that internet gambling without sports betting might generate $67billion over five years and create over 25,470 employment opportunities.

And while all this is going on, some online poker players are beginning to be amazed at how the slyly passed UIGEA and the shutting down of the top 3 poker giants has somehow managed to initiate a move of online poker rights from online gaming sites to land based casinos in which a lot of politicians somehow seem to have an indirect or direct vested interest. The unpaid US poker players in the meantime may end up being collateral damage.

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