In just two days, the United States House Committee on Ways and Means will be reviewing tax proposals to tax online gambling according to regulatory legislation yet to be passed into law. In fact, current legislative proposals have quite a long way to go before even the possibility of being passed into law becomes….well…a possibility. With the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) enforcement deadline fast approaching (June 1st), which was already postponed by nearly six months in December 2009, a more serious effort is now being taken to consider the prospects of regulating online gambling – most particularly, online casinos and poker rooms.

There is no denying the fact that legalizing online gambling would generate hefty amounts of tax revenue. However, just how much revenue is the question. And the better question is just how much at the cost of what? Being that the House Committee on Ways and Means has jurisdiction over taxation matters, the former question will be more closely examined than the latter at the Hearing on Tax Proposals Related to Legislation to Legalize Internet Gambling on Wednesday at 9:30 am.

Specifically, the Committee says it will be discussing revenue and tax figures resulting in the legalization of online gambling in the United States. Tax legislation has already been drawn up, as has a co-bill that would essentially overturn the UIGEA and give individual State governments the right to regulate on their accord. Overreaching regulatory legislation will trickle down from a Federal level, as will tax revenue between the Federal and State governments. Taking all of this into account, including the counter effects of the UIGEA and electronic eCommerce research undertaken by the Department of Treasury, will be the task at hand for the Committee.

The UK government, which passed legislation to regulate most forms of online gambling back in 2005-2006, could serve as a model and gauge for predicting potential tax revenue, although it isn’t known if the Committee plans to take an extensive look at the UK Gambling Act, let alone discuss it during deliberations.

What is most promising is that several Committee members have expressed sincere interest and even adamant hope in overturning the UIGEA and passing strict legislation that would effectively regulate online poker and online casinos, including Nevada Representative, Shelley Berkley.

Anyone interested in supporting the cause further can do so by visiting www.waysandmeans.house.gov and participate in the discussions by means of submitting a written record. In order to do so, send an email to wmsubmissions@mail.house.gov and include your name, organization, address, phone number, contact email address, and title of the hearing (Hearing on Tax Proposals Related to Legislation to Legalize Internet Gambling) in the body of the email. Attach your submission as a Word document. If all required information is provided, the statement may be included in the Table of Contents and printed in the hearing record.

Tags: online gambling in us, online gambling laws, online gambling regulation, uigea, unlawful internet gambling enforcement act, usa online casinos

This entry was posted on Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 5:44 pm and is filed under News, Regulation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.