With the moves made by Representatives Barney Frank and Jim McDermott online gambling and closer to a legalization and regulation return than ever before. Of course, as any gambling bill does, the legislation which is making its way out of committee and possibly to the floors of Congress, is facing an uphill battle. Gambling brings polar opposites together in one, hot room. The online gambling legislation introduced by Rep, Frank is facing another strong voice of opposition, but this time it is from a poker group. HR 4976 has drawn the criticism of California’s Commerce Casino. They have recently released a statement describing their opposition to the online gambling bill.

Commerce Casino feels that poker players in the United States are being lead astray by special interest groups and foreign companies who would benefit from online gambling within the United States. (Of course, many believe that offshore online casinos and gambling sites are already profiting from American gamblers.) Commerce Casino wants American poker players to know (what they feel) are the facts. For starters, they support the legalization of online poker play in the United States, and they are “working hard to make sure it will benefit all Americans.” They want the poker community in the U.S. to be “…united in opposing the Frank legislation…” They feel that the legislation in its current state, would ship jobs and dollars overseas.

California is the largest online gambling market in the United States. Commerce Casino wants to see, “…that what plays in California, stays in California.” They went on to say that the support competition, but don’t feel that the federal government is considering California’s economic condition.

Further more, Commerce Casino, while supporting online poker play, does not support other forms of online gambling. Rep. Frank’s bill would allow just about all forms of online gambling and casino play such as, roulette, blackjack, slots, and bingo. Some pretty harsh words came out of the poker community. They might have made HR 4976’s up hill battle a little steeper.

Tags: casino, gambling, online