So there’s a new president elect that’s a poker player, but the Bush administration has pushed through the UIGEA. However, some remain optimistic that online gaming in the US may still become regulated. And the reason is… money!

For starters, Nevada wants more revenues, and secondly, Congress needs more taxes. It’s a little more complex than both Nevada and Congress suddenly realizing that there’s money to be had from online gaming. Rather, new changes to how legislation is introduced makes it necessary for the congressman or senator responsible show how their legislation can be funded. Consequently, getting online gaming regulated starts looking easier because it’s not only tax-revenue positive, but self-sustaining. As the Reno Gazette-Journal reports:

The legalization of Internet gambling will be the hottest federal issue facing Nevada’s gaming industry in the next few years, the president of the American Gaming Association said.
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The need for new tax money could drive its legalization in both houses of Congress, said Frank Fahrenkopf, the AGA president and CEO.

“There have been projections circulated on the Hill that it can raise billions of dollars in new federal revenue,” said Fahrenkopf, a Reno High School graduate. “So we can expect that the whole issue of Internet gambling will be front and center in the next Congress.”

Federal lawmakers see that potential tax revenue from Internet gaming could fuel their legislative agenda, Fahrenkopf said.

“Congress has adopted a pay-as-you-go system,” he said. “So any congressman or senator who introduces a piece of legislation that is going to cost something will also have to show how they are going to pay for it, either by cutting spending in one place or raising taxes in another. So we know under those circumstances, they will be looking around at a place to get additional revenue.”

Of course, the same article also points out that the Nevada industry, itself, is partly divided on the issue. Nonetheless, Fahrenkopf’s perspective of how the new Congressional pay-as-you-go system might effect the future of online gambling in the US is rather interesting.

Given that his entire platform seemed to be all about change, and considering that he is a poker player, Obama seems like quite a promising Commander in Chief as far as the online gaming industry is concerned. The same election that has sent him to the White House, however, also featured a few lessons for the online gaming industry and how they might be able to makes some headway in opening the US market back up. As the Gaming Industry Media reported the day after that historic election:

In Missouri, 56 percent were in favor of repealing a $500 loss limit at riverboat casinos in order to fund education measures. [...]

Additionally, Ohio voters opted to not allow a $600 million casino facility the southwestern part of the state.

Even though none of these items bear directly on online gaming, they do hold some lessons. The first (from Missouri) is that gaming grows when part of the proceeds go to the children. The second (from Ohio) is that there are still important pockets of popular opposition to gambling.

Now, Obama is going to have his work cut-out for him, so even if the UIGEA was the piece of legislation that was most incompatible with his platform (and it’s not), it could get pushed to the wayside to make room for more pressing issues — such as a disastrous war overseas or an economy in crisis.

The gaming industry, then, needs to show what the country can gain (as a society) from regulating online gaming. One of those gains is an added set of social resources. Another one of those gains is economic stimulation.

Now that there is a potentially sympathetic administration headed toward the White House, the industry needs to emphasize the benefits what US society stands to gain from regulating online gaming. After all, most of the industry’s opponents emphasize what society risks losing by regulating online gaming. What the industry should be doing, then, is emphasizing what US society stands to gain.

For starters, where the losses are risk that can be avoided through prudence, the gains are near certainties. More to the point, however, a cost-benefit analysis approach puts all trade-offs into perspective, and the time has never been so opportune for just such a comparison.

With a presidential election underway in the US, there’s been a lot of speculation about what this means for the future of online gambling, especially poker. Of course, behind the scenes, things largely remain business as usual. For example, on Tuesday, the US House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank, pushed through the Payments System Protection Act (HR 6870).

In fact, in this interview with Joe Brennan of iMEGA, Brennan explains how (1) a change of administration wouldn’t directly effect the UIGEA because of (2) the way in which the US judicial system works. That’s why iMEGA has levied a lawsuit against the UIGEA: as sympathetic as a new administration could be to online gambling in the US, it won’t necessarily be a priority for them, and any reform effort could easily fall to the wayside in light of, say, trying to pull the US out of a controversial war or economic tailspin.

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If you’re more interested in the ins-and-outs of the iMEGA’s case, however, you should check out iGaming News’ interview with Joe Brennan. There, Mr. Brennan goes into more detail about the specific fight that iMEGA’s has ahead of it.

This is a video interview from iGaming News with Joe Brennan of iMEGA, a “a not-for-profit corporation [...] dedicated to the continued growth and innovation of the Internet.” iMEGA currently has a lawsuit in US federal court that challenges the UIGEA. Here, Mr. Brennan explains where exactly iMEGA is in their fight against the UIGEA.

Here, the Chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, former New York Senator (R) Alfonse D’Amato offers some insight into how the UIGEA came to be law. As with so many other laws, D’Amato explains, the UIGEA was politically motivated.

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This video is an excerpt of Mr. D’Amato’s opening keynote at the Next Generation in Gambling conference in Montreal. If you’re interested in a more in-depth explanation of all the political positioning that went into drafting and legislating the UIGEA, iGaming News has a more lengthy video of Mr. D’Amato discussing the issue.