Draft Bill for Intrastate Online Poker in Motion
Recently the United States Department of Justice had announced that it would be amending changes to the Wire Act that would conclude that “interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a ‘sporting event of contest’ fall outside the reach of the Wire Act.” This clarification of the act was seen by many as a win for the online poker industry, indicating that it fell outside the reach of the act and was therefore not in breach. This announcement has pushed more and more state lawmakers towards the direction of online poker legislation in an effort to maintain a grip over the growing industry and to regulate it.
Iowa Senator Jell Danielson told the Des Moines Register this Tuesday that he plans to implement a draft detail an internet poker bill that will affect the state of Iowa sometime in the near future. Danielson further added that the Department of Justice’s decision is not a precursor to intrastate online gambling but rather a tool to allow states to join jurisdictions that have already approved the activity of online gambling, seen in places such as Nevada and the District of Columbia.
“We believe that because of the Department of Justice ruling, we can now have a multi-state compact,” Danielson stated when asked about his opinion on the changes Iowa could make towards online poker legislation.
It is seen that online poker could generate copious amounts of revenue for all states involved with regulating and implementing it, similar to that of lotteries like Powerball and Mega Millions, if online poker became multistate. California based U.S. Digital Gaming Chairman Richard Bronson stated in an interview with PokerNews, with reference to intrastate online poker that it could be very successful.
“It can definitely succeed long term. Let’s look at lottery. The more people that buy lottery tickets, the bigger the prize. The bigger the prize, more people buy tickets. Some of these states, like Idaho, are constrained by the number of people that they have in the state. So they created Powerball and Megabucks as a way to link states together. I don’t believe there will be a federal lottery in our country and I don’t believe there will be a federal online poker law in our country. But I do believe that some of the really small states that don’t have liquidity will be able to link together to operate.” He stated when asked on his thoughts of the success of online poker if it were to become intrastate.
To further substantiate the ability Iowa has on implementing regulation for online poker, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) issued a study outlining several methods that could be implemented during setup. It is estimated that online poker could generate approximately $3m to $13m tax revenue annually for the state.
[Source: Poker News]
