Online Gambling in the US: is the Ban About to End?
Last month, we reported how Representative Barney Frank was working on pushing a bill through the system that would change the rules about online gambling. The wheels are really turning now, and the process has begun. It could just be a matter of months until US players can once again enjoy playing blackjack online for real money.
Last week, the European Union announced that it was thinking about asking the World Trade Organization to punish the US for their unfair gambling laws. The current laws are seen as unfair because they prevent players in the US from accessing European online casinos, which means those casinos are losing a huge source of revenue. This new threat pushed Barney Frank’s campaign into high gear, and Frank has said that during this next month he will try to repeal the UIGEA, which is the law that tries to prevent US players from gambling on the internet.
Frank believes very strongly that US citizens should be able to make their own decisions about how they use the internet, and has been voicing his opinion for years. Now that the US Presidency, House, and Senate are all democratically-controlled, Frank believes there is a very good chance his campaign will succeed.
There are those who believe that the regulation and taxation of internet gambling would be beneficial to the US economy, which is currently suffering. The legalization of gambling online could provide a significant source of revenue for the government.
The process is inevitably slow, but many are excited to see that change is in the air. While there are no guarantees about the outcome of Barney Frank’s campaign, he certainly has a lot of people on his side, and US gamblers remain hopeful.
