The Internet gambling bill
– Inside the Barney Frank Internet gambling bill –
The chairman of U.S. House Financial Services Committee, Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, has introduced a bill to lift the online gambling ban. But he conceded there is not enough support currently to pass it.
Some experts interpreted this to mean that Barney Frank doesn’t believe his own bill is likely to pass.
I don’t think he said anywhere that he doesn’t think it will pass. He said, “there is not enough support currently to pass it.” Let’s work on the “currently” aspect by continuing our efforts to write and call Congress. Let’s remember to remind them that the PPA has over 400,000 members. Let’s also remind them of what happened to Jim Leach. Finally, remind them that waves of young voters who normally wouldn’t vote will show up to the polls to vote this issue.
We don’t have to pass IGREA this year – the Frank bil – to claim victory. The mere existence of IGREA allows us to stay on the offensive while building our grassroots effort. People fight back more effectively with clear goals -Â like IGREA. Also it’s gotten us some positive media coverage. It also shows the fence-sitting politicians that we’re here (and why we believe as we do). And, our enemies will learn that we’re not punching bags to be used to mobilize their base penalty-free. For example I doubt we’ll see a successful effort to expand the Wire Act to include playing poker this year.