Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) made a second attempt at curbing the greatly over reaching Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that was passed as an amendment to the 2006 Safe Ports Act. His first attempt, H.R. 5767 Payments System Protection Act, failed to make it out of the House Financial Services Committee. His new bill, H.R. 6870 Payments System Protection Act of 2008, DID make it out of committee this past Wednesday passing by a 30-19 vote. The bill will now be discussed by the House at large. Alfonce D’Amato, Chairman of the Poker Players’ Alliance, said of the passing of H.R. 6870, “The PPA is pleased that the House Financial Services Committee today recognized the need to provide necessary clarification to what constitutes ‘unlawful Internet gambling’ under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) by passing H.R. 6870.” Read the rest of Chaiman D’Amato’s comments at the PPA blog.

This new bill takes a slightly different tact than last year’s failed bill. H.R. 6870 seeks to restrict the UIGEA’s jurisdiction to only those forms of gambling already explicitly prohibited by Federal law. This includes only sports betting, at the moment, but the bill also asks the Secretary of the Treasury to clarify exactly what forms of gambling are directly prohibited so as to remove the great amount of ambiguity and confusion in the online gaming, and especially poker, sector now. The passage of this bill could open up online poker to US citizens again in a clearly legal fashion, at least at the Federal level.

Personally, I don’t think this will fully clear the waters regarding online poker, nor ease the concerns that some have over rouge entities taking advantage of unwary players, nor address underage gaming. It IS a start in the correct direction, and hopefully will lead to legislation that offers a framework for the regulation and oversight of online gaming sites and the protection against underage gaming. From a business perspective, these two things are key to an online cardroom’s continued existence and profitability, and it only seems logical that our country, as the standard bearers of capitalism, should embrace policies that permit the successful and safe operation of businesses offering services demanded by the populous.