"The Poker Players Alliance has long advocated thoughtful and effective licensing and regulation of online poker as a means to protect vulnerable communities, such as children and compulsive gamblers, and provide appropriate controls to thwart consumer fraud and abuse," said PPA chairman Alfonse D'Amato. "Senator Menendez's legislation is the right vehicle to achieve those goals."
New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez has introduced legislation that would legally define poker as a skill game and create a regulatory environment for the game to be offered over the internet in the US.
The bill is the first piece of legislation concerning online gambling that has been introduced to the Senate since the passage of the UIGEA. Similar legislation and attempts to either repeal or better define the UIGEA have already been introduced in the House of Representatives.
Menendez’s Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act calls on the US Treasury Department to set up a licensing framework for games that use "simulated cards, dice, or tiles in which success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players." The measure lists "poker, bridge and mahjong" as examples of those types of games. The bill also defines permitted bets as wagers "made with respect to the outcome of an internet skill game that is a non-housed bank game."
Operators under this legislation would be licensed for one year and have to pay a licensing fee as well as renew their licences on an annual basis. And individual states and Native American tribes have the right to "opt out" of the legislation and prohibit internet gambling within their borders.
