AGA Head Believes New Federal Push For Internet Poker Is Coming

The head of the American Gaming Association said during a television appearance that he believes a new bill legalizing internet poker on a federal level is being worked on and may be introduced soon.

Frank Fahrenkopf, the head of the AGA spoke about the issue on the Ralston Reports show Tuesday in which he made the case that federal legislation is better than state-by-state legislation while noting that a new cyber poker bill will likely be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Fahrenkopf indicated that Texas Representative Joe Barton may be behind the possible legislation, saying: "I've talked to the congressman and he's doing a little spadework with the members. We'll just have to wait and see."

The outgoing AGA executive continued by saying: “We might see (a bill) introduced quite soon in the House. There is still an effort in the House. I think there are some members in Congress who normally are very anti-gaming who view a poker bill as the lesser of two evils.”

Successful internet betting law legislation at the state level may be acting as the impetus for getting federal legislation on the books. Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey have recently made substantial progress in legalizing online gambling recently, with the latter two states acting to legalize casino games in addition to poker.

"I think the activity of a number of states - particularly Delaware where they authorized all forms of casino games - could (result in) the largest expansion of legal gaming in this country's history if states start to emulate what Delaware did." Fahrenkopf added.

The full segment is available for viewing online at: http://www.mynews3.com/content/video/default.aspx?videoID=3950114