House committee to hold hearing on Internet gambling regulation

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing entitled "Can Internet Gambling Be Effectively Regulated to Protect Consumers and the Payments System?" on Friday, June 8 at 10 a.m.

Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced H.R. 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, in April. He has long been a critic of attempts to prohibit Internet gambling, calling the UIGEA "one of the worst laws we've ever passed."

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)

The witness list for the hearing includes Howard Lederer, a member of the Poker Players Alliance Board of Directors, and Radley Balko, senior editor of Reason Magazine. Both have strongly disagreed with the UIGEA's approach and are in favor of regulating Internet gambling in the U.S.

Gerald Kitchen, CEO of SecureTrading, a UK-based Internet payment service provider, and Jon Prideaux, chief executive of Asterion Payments, will also speak during the hearing. SecureTrading's Web site claims that it is able to "virtually eliminate risks such as underage gambling, money laundering and abuse by organized crime and fraud against consumers."

Baptist minister Greg Hogan will likely be the only witness arguing against Chairman Frank's legislation. Hogan's son, also named Greg, is currently serving time in a Pennsylvania state prison for robbing a bank to pay off debts to his fraternity brothers who helped him fund Internet poker accounts.

Greg Hogan Jr. was the president of his class at Lehigh University when he robbed the bank on Dec. 9, 2005. His story has become a rallying cry for Internet gambling opponents, and Greg Hogan Sr. is one of the leaders of the movement to further restrict Internet gambling.

This will be the first Congressional hearing on Internet gambling since the UIGEA became law in October. The law bars U.S. financial institutions from processing transactions with Internet gambling firms.

The IGREA is not the only Internet gambling legislation that would address the current sitution, however. Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) has introduced a bill that would commission a study on the issue, and there are rumors that Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) will introduce a bill that would create a carve-out for "games of skill" — including poker — in the UIGEA.