Ahead of his retirement after decades as a leading US politician, Democrat Barney Frank gave an interview to poker media sources and discussed internet poker legislation and the chances of the industry seeing any significant changes this year. Frank is considered the forerunner among politicians seeking to make changes in current legislation governing online gambling in the United States. For years he has pushed for a more lenient but regulated environment and has influenced many other congressmen with his ideas.
Frank said that while there was incredible momentum among individual states to see changes in their own legislation as they pushed to create sources of income and allow their residents to enjoy regulated intrastate online gambling, on a federal level things were moving slowly. As such, he was pessimistic about the country seeing any major changes on the legislation front in Congress.
Barney Frank, however, did not rule out the possibility of a federal bill passing this year, altogether. He said that a lot of people in the US want to see changes, and it was possible that a bill could pass in Congress’s lame duck session. Frank said that while a bill could be passed as part of an overall package, other, more important issues may replace it.
The 32-year-serving Congressman said that online gambling legislation faces a number of tough hurdles, not least being strong opposition by certain Indian tribes, as well as from traditionally staunch gambling opponents such as Senator Jon Kyl.
Barney Frank, however, is convinced that we will eventually see changes on a federal level, if not this year then within a couple of years.
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