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On the second to last day of the 2008 Congressional session before the August recess in the United States, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing. Its goal was to discuss a resolution to place Karl Rove in contempt as well as discuss 12 bills for mark up. One of the bills on the agenda was HR 2140, the Internet Gambling Study Act, which was proposed by Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV). The hearing did not go as planned, however, with the Committee taking most of its time to discuss Rove, who was eventually found to be in contempt. Consequently, Berkley’s bill was not debated. On Thursday, Congress adjourned for the August recess, meaning the online poker world will have to wait until September in order for this, or any, piece of legislation to be discussed.

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An open letter written by four Republican Congressman to the heads of the Federal Reserve Board and U.S. Treasury calls for a more “deliberative” approach for crafting regulations for the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and strongly urges that a formal definition of “unlawful internet gambling” itself be finalized before the law’s required rules are placed into effect.

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Four casinos have gone into bankruptcy this year, while others have reported losses. And several Las Vegas building projects have stalled due to financial problems.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, gambling revenues have dropped 4 percent this year — the current slump is only the second Las Vegas has seen since 1970. The last was immediately following the 9/11 attacks.

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It’s taken some time, but the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki has finally signed off on the National Gambling Amendment Bill, which was approved on May 9, 2008 to license and regulate online gambling. But for reasons that are not yet clear, the legislation will not be implemented “until a date chosen by the President.”

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California may become the first state to legalize online poker after the federal government banned online gambling, taking advantage of a loophole in federal law. Andrew Luria reports.

Click here to watch the video:
[CA] CBS13 – Video: California May Legalize Online Poker (07/22/08)

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A proposal to legalize online poker in California made its way through the Senate Governmental Organization Committee last month and is now on its way to the Senate Appropriations Committee to be voted upon in August.

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In the United States,residents of 48 states can gamble legally, and no major city in the continental U.S. is located more than a short drive from a gambling venue. Yet a number of laws continue to restrict Americans’ ability to gamble on the Internet. The three main laws are:

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently has gone after Internet poker businesses with a vengeance—even though it may not have the authority to do so—driving many of them overseas. Now the House of Representatives is considering legislation to tell the Justice Department to leave Internet poker businesses alone. So would that constitute a needed clarification of jurisdictional authority? Sadly, no. The same statutory ambiguities that the Justice Department is now using to drive Internet poker out of America are in the proposed bill.

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WASHINGTON — If Internet gambling is legalized and taxed, Nevada could receive more than $300 million during the next decade to boost education and job training for foster children in the state, according to advocates of a bill introduced this week in the House.

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who offered the bill, described it as a revision of legislation he introduced last year to tax Internet gambling companies if they are licensed and regulated by the Department of Treasury.

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