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Poker Players Alliance Vice President of Player Relations Rich Muny sat down with Poker Fusion this week to address the possibility of online poker legislation finding its way onto an upcoming cyber security bill.
From Poker Fusion:
“We are taking a good look at every bill that comes out. Many of us are reaching out to members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee suggesting they add poker to the cyber security bill which is good because it’s germane to the bill and has a revenue component.
“Also, as a preemptive measure, we have been reaching out the House Homeland Security Committee even though there’s not a House bill yet. We are letting them know that, if this bill comes out of the Senate, it ought to include poker.”
While there is an opportunity for a free standing Internet poker bill coming to fruition, most pundits, including Muny, agree that such a measure stands a better chance of passing as part of another piece of legislation.
“As for a bill moving forward as freestanding legislation, it very well could. I tend to think that it’s the kind of thing that’s more likely to be part of something germane (like security), but there’s a number of ways to move this forward.”
Whether the cyber security bill passes remains to be seen. Likewise, there are some concerns over the intrusive nature of such legislation and how acceptable the language will be as it applies to online poker.
The House introduced a new cyber security bill last week that increases penalties for hacking into servers and removes roadblocks that prevent government security experts from discussing threats with their counterparts at Internet service providers and other companies.
A similar bill proposes that National Security Agency would be able advise internet service providers about different cyber threats the intelligence agency has detected so the ISP can then block traffic to its customers from anything with that signature.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
