July 31st marked the end of the 2008 Congressional year and there were still bills left to be decided on before the Senators and Congressmen and women left to go on recess.  Among those items still to be covered was the Internet Gambling Study Act, HR 2140.  The bill is a proposal to study how the online poker and gambling industry works, how it affects Americans who utilize the games, and how the money that is changed hands should be taxed and used before a decision is made in regard to the 2006’s UIGEA ruling.  Everyone waiting to hear whether or not they will be allowed to play online legally in the United States is now going to have to wait a little bit longer for a final answer.

The bill was proposed by Congresswoman Shelley Berkley from Nevada in 2007 and it took this long for it to get to the mark-up phase in Congress.  The bill, with numerous others, was set aside so that the House Judiciary Committee could debate another situation.  It took all day, forcing everything else to be put on the backburner for a month.  Congress reconvenes in September 2008 and the bills – and the online gambling community – will have to wait.

Johan Pappas, the Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), commented to the media that they knew the bill would be up for a decision soon, but they did not expect it to be voted on until after the recess.  He went on to state that there was a combination of other priorities the House Judiciary Committee had to deal with first and that the PPA was not 100% confident of the vote count.

The bill proposes a one year study of the online poker and gambling industry and whether it is practical to regulate the industry in the United States.  The UIGEA will also be examined during the study and the researchers will examine the effect the ban is having on the American citizens who were frequenting the websites.  The bill, when first proposed in May of 2007, received 73 signatures, the most co-sponsorship any online gambling related bill that has gone through the government has received so far.

The Poker Players Alliance supports the bill, but they are not worried about the delay.  They do feel that the bill is a step in the right direction towards getting online gambling regulated.  Pappas, however, has also stated that there have been enough studies done already to show that online gambling can be regulated, and that the government could take a lesson from other developed countries that have already regulated their online gambling industries.