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Supporters of legislation that would make online poker legal in the United States had hoped to have their bill attached to a so-called Super Committee financial reduction measure, but the prospects of this happening appear close to zero at this point.
It’s not so much that the online poker measure couldn’t somehow latch itself onto the deficit-reduction bill. Instead, the Super Committee was about to declare failure on Monday.
From Reuters:
Barring some unforeseen development, the Republican and Democratic co-chairs of the committee are due to issue a joint statement on Monday conceding defeat in their three-month search for a debt deal, aides told Reuters on Sunday.
With the intensifying 2012 election campaign stoking already bitter partisanship in Washington, the U.S. Congress will be hard-pressed to reform expensive government benefit programs and an archaic tax code that are seen as the keys to improving the country's fiscal health.
Given the complexity of passing such legislation through Congress, it could even be 2014 before real progress is made.
The online poker measure, which is said could feed the US economy with billions of dollars, added jobs and enormous tax benefits, is far from dead in the water. Supporters the likes of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Congressmen Barney Frank and Joe Barton, will simply have to wait for another opportunity to arise, and that might not happen until early this coming new year.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
