Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act
The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act was a proposed 2009 bill in the United States House of Representatives that is intended "to provide for the licensing of Internet gambling activities by the Secretary of the Treasury, to provide for consumer protections on the Internet, to enforce the tax code, and for other purposes." The bill was originally introduced by Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) on June 12, 2009 and as of July 20, 2009 had bipartisan support from 47 co-sponsors. The bill was held in the House Financial  Services Committee. Description of the bill. The bill would have found the following: The bill then discussed the qualifications an organization would need to possess in order to operate an online poker site, legal requirements, fees and taxes, penalties, and regulations. Had passed, it would have automatically created an exception for poker to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). In the meantime, Frank also proposed another bill, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2266) which would have delayed the full implementation of the UIGEA until 2010. Reaction. On July 5, 2009, Frank addressed  the players at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event (day 1-c) concerning the status of this bill. During his address, he accused the Republican Party of being behind the Department of Justice's seizure of poker players' bank accounts in early June. After his address, Frank initiated the third day of the tournament with the words, "Shuffle up and deal." Goldman Sachs issued a notice to its investors that online gambling would be legal in the U.S., and that the only question is when. They believe that the tax ramifications alone make the passage of regulated poker  a foregone conclusion. "Were the market to be legalized," the Sachs report stated, "we believe that the size of the revenue opportunity could increase materially... Based on an assumption of 30% penetration of offline poker players and $300 gross gaming revenue (GGR) per player, we estimate that a legal poker market could be worth $3bn."