Lawmakers bet on online poker

House lawmakers are doubling down on a push to legalize Internet gambling. A House Commerce Committee panel held a showdown over a legislative effort to license and regulate online poker.

States have tended to take the lead on regulation of online gambling in recent years, but many lawmakers say that federal action is necessary to prevent money laundering and consumer abuse. “While unfettered online gaming here in the US is surely not the ideal, absent a clear mandate from Congress, we risk exposing our constituents to an environment of a ‘race to the bottom’ which could present itself,” Rep Lee Terry (R-NE) said. Rep Joe Barton (R-TX), who has introduced the Internet Poker Freedom Act, said that times have evolved to require the new regulations. “Now we have the Internet and iPhones and iPads and apps and all these things,” he said. “Just about the only thing you can’t do [online] anymore is play poker. And that is changing.”