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Former Congressman Barney Frank has died at the age of 86
Frank was once described as a "primary champion of regulated online gambling in Washington" long before the activity was ever embraced by the masses
Former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank has died at the age of 86 just weeks after announcing he would be entering home hospice care.
"He was, above all else, a wonderful brother. I was lucky to be his sister," Frank's sister Doris Breay told NBC10 Boston Wednesday morning upon confirming his death.
Before there was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn decades of prohibition of sports betting in 2018, trailblazing Massachusetts Congressman had formed an unlikely alliance with then GOP Congressman Ron Paul to push for legislation to legalized online gambling at the federal level.
Frank was one of the most prominent pro-regulation voices in U.S. online gambling policy after the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.
In 2007, along with Paul, he introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2046) to license and regulate online gambling instead of banning it.
Follow up legislation he backed included The Payment Systems Protection Act (to delay UIGEA enforcement) and The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2267), which advanced through committee in 2010 and aimed to legalize and regulate online poker and similar games.
None of the measures ultimately garnered enough support among either party.
Frank became a regular fixture on the Gambling911.com website during his time in office.
Our own Jenny Woo sat down with the former congressman in 2008 where he made it abundantly clear that government had no right interfering in an individual's desire to place bets online.
"I think it was a terrible mistake that the war of human activity should be divided into two groups, things that the government allows because it approves of them and things that the government prohibits. The point is that it's not up to the government to find whether something is a good thing or a bad thing, it's up to the government to decide whether it would hurt somebody. It's a gratuitous interference with adults. The House responds, according to the bill, it doesn't add into the gross domestic product, that's a terribly authoritarian idea that we shouldn't allow people to do things if it doesn't go with the gross domestic product."
He even referenced the Bible.
"Well some have a religious view about it, which puzzled me because the problem is - there's something in the Bible that says gambling is a terrible thing except Bingo? I just don't understand some of my liberal friends, who should know better, (but) are opposed to it (online gambling). And I don't understand why. Generally my liberal friends have been able to read what they want and there's something cultural that leads them to be defensive. I can't understand what rational arguments that they make against it, but that's where they are.
"People would say to me, 'do you want to encourage people to gamble', again that's a terrible notion. The idea that the world should be divided in things the government prohibits and things that the government encourages. The world ought to be filled with a government that let's people do on their own."
Joe Brennan Jr., the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association founder who was instrumental in getting SCOTUS to overturn The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), frequently referenced Barney Frank’s work in the sector.
“Barney Frank has been the leader in Congress on this issue," Brennan Jr. said at the time, referring to the former congressman as a primary champion of regulated online gambling in Washington.
Today, both the state he represented, Massachusetts, and the state he currently resides in, Maine, have legalized some forms of online gambling, including sports betting. The activity is not federally regulated however.
Frank announced he was suffering from congestive heart failure and would be entering hospice care just two weeks ago.
Former Democratic Rep. Barney Frank has a message for progressives as he enters hospice: "I think they make a mistake by taking the most controversial parts of the agenda and turning them into a litmus test." pic.twitter.com/duT7MRSu8O
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) May 3, 2026
“At 86, I’ve made it longer than I thought," Frank quipped. “At some point, my heart’s just going to give out, and it’s reaching that stage.”
A champion of liberal causes during his 32 years representing Massachusetts in the House, in classic Barney Frank fashion, he remains outspoken in regard to politics, even against his own party, recently stating that Democrats have “embraced an agenda that goes beyond what’s politically acceptable.
“Until we separate ourselves from that agenda, we don’t win,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
Frank, who served in the House from 1981 to 2013, said at the time he was entering home hospice care in Ogunquit, Maine, where he moved with his husband after retiring from Congress. that he felt “very good — no pain, no discomfort."
Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
