Nation Misses Another Chance to Pass Online Poker Deal

Published on November 21st, 2011 2:59 pm EST

The Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, aka "the super committee", was formed this past summer in the United States as a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011.

The "super committee" was charged with the task of eliminating $1.2 trillion from the nation’s combined deficits over the next 10 years. The "super committee" had the option of using spending cuts, revenue increases or a mix of both to reduce the nation's deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade.

The stakes are high - if the “super committee” can't cut a deal, then a "trigger mechanism" will be enacted that will cut $1.2 trillion in spending over the next ten years. These spending cuts will be spread evenly over national security and domestic spending programs.

If the "super committee" was looking for creative ways to increase tax revenues, it was thought, then maybe it would consider the possibility of legalizing and regulating online poker in the United States. Legalized and regulated online poker would brings billions of dollars in new tax revenues and thousands of new jobs to the country.

While certainly a long shot, many online poker players held out the hope that the "super committee" would agree that legalized, regulated and taxed online poker in the US would be a painless source of new tax revenues.

Unfortunately it looks as though the "super committee" is going to fail. There are some frantic last minute talks taking place, but it appears at this hour that the "super committee" is going to be a bust and the automatic spending cuts will be triggered.

The apparent failure of the "super committee" is going to take with it another chance to legalize and regulate online poker in the United States, and US online poker players will need to continue to sit and wait and hope.

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Filed Under: Poker Legal Issues