Barney Frank introduces new regulation bill - Online Bingo News

Barney Frank, a leading US Democrat who has been pushing hard for a reasonable government policy on online gambling, online bingo, online poker etc, has pulled another bill out of his pocket.

Frank's initial Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (aka IGREA) was presented as a reasonable alternative to the UIGEA bill that became law in late 2006 in the USA. The IGREA was unfortunately defeated this summer in a comittee tie vote due to some unsupported statistics about teen suicide which swayed opinion.

However Frank is not an easy man to knock down, and has introduced his new bill, The Payment Systems Protection Act of 2008. This requires cooperation between the Department of Treasury and the Attorney General, to state, once and for all, which forms of gambling are illegal on the Internet.

In the UK we have the Gambling Act 2005, which means that online gambling websites, such as the many online bingo sites we feature at Bingo Street are all regulated, taxed and abide by the legislation. This not only provides income for the Treasury, but more importantly protects online bingo fans from being ripped off by rogue online bingo sites. Americans simply don’t have the legal freedom to play online bingo or any form of online gambling at the moment.

Both of Barney Frank's bills push for regulation and legislation of the online casino, online bingo and online poker industry, calling for safeguards such as age verification, protection for problem gamblers and protection against identity theft.

Frank is confident that these online gambling regulating bills will pass in 2009, especially with more Democrats likely to take more seats this year. He is supported by citizens all over America who demand the right to decide to play online bingo, casino or poker games for themselves. The major financial institutions are also behind Frank's bills, including the Chamber of Commerce and the Credit Union National Association, as they all find enforcing a ban untenable.

Written by Charlene Grey for Bingo Street – the UK’s number one authority on the best online bingo promotions and free bingo games.