A Florida politician who believes poker should be considered a game of skill has introduced a bill that would allow people to play online poker legally with government protection in the United States.
The Skill Game Protection Act had been introduced by Representative Robert Wexler (D-Fla.). The bill would make several games, including poker, mah-jongg, bridge, and chess, exempt from current laws aimed against online gambling.
Basically, the bill aims to clarify which games are skill games and which games are not. The bill specifically calls poker a game of skill, and if passed, also calls for a system to be in place that would tax and regulated all real-money games of skill to ensure that both the games remain fair and that minors and compulsive gamblers wouldn't be able to play.
The bill would add language to existing laws – including the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act – that would define poker and the other games mentioned as games of skill. It would allow adults 18 and older to play real-money skill games online.
This is the second bill introduced this year that would tax and regulate online gambling. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced a bill that would create an exemption to the ban on online gambling for properly licensed operators. Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) also introduced a bill earlier this year that calls for an intense study to learn the feasibility of taxing and regulating online gambling in the United States.
