New Sponsors for the Online Gambling Act

Rep. Barney Frank's Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA) have 5 new names on the list of cosponsors in the month of July. These names are: Representatives Anthony D. Weiner (D-N.Y.), Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), Steven R. Rothman (D-N.J.), Michael M. Honda (D-Calif.) and Albert Russell Wynn (D-Md.). With the last 5 participants, the current list of cosponsors grows to 31.

IGREA also known as H.R. 2046 was introduced in April and is an answer to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and became law last October after it was signed by President George Bush.

The UIGEA law essentially makes online gambling in the US an illegal action as transactions made from banks and credit card companies to Internet casinos, poker rooms and sports betting sites were prohibited after the law was signed.

Rep. Barney Frank considers UIGEA to be "preposterous’. Also, he said this is one of the ‘stupidest laws" ever passed. So, he’s now gathering sponsors for his act, planning to reverse the UIGEA and to offer a real support for compulsive gambling, underage gambling, money laundering and fraud.

Others fighting against the October law are Representatives Robert Wexler, Jim McDermott and Shelley Berkley. Robert Wexler submitted the Skill Game Protect Act to free from the UIGEA games including poker. Jim McDermott put forward the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative claiming the legalization and taxation of online poker. Shelley Berkley demands an internet poker study with the intention of taxing, regulating and providing protection for underage gambling.