A lot of great things could potentially come out of the hearing coming up on December 3^rd.   Finally after months of anticipation, the US House Committee of Financial Services will address the two bills introduced by Representative Barney Frank for the regulation of online casinos and online gambling in the United States. 

This is a very exciting time for online casinos and the online gambling industry.  The ideal outcome will be that the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act will be brought one step closer to law.  However, even with all of the support that Frank has managed to muster of a year of shopping the bill around, that is not guaranteed.

On thing that is guaranteed is that a portion of the Congress will finally get a chance to address on of the biggest elephants in the room:  Online Casinos.   Online casinos have essentially been swept under the carpet for the past few years.  The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was nothing more than an extension of the same treatment.  Prohibition is never a solution to a problem, it is only avoidance.

These hearing will at least give Congress a chance to get on the same page about the future of online casinos in the United States.

Congress will finally have “a chance…to get fully up to speed on the status of the federal approach to Internet gambling, to talk about what hasn’t worked, and what could better protect consumers and better serve our country,” said Michael Waxman, executive director of the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative.