Texas hold ’em — legal in Texas?

Maybe the third time is the charm.

That’s why U.S. Rep. Joe Barton is pushing his chips in on a plan to once and for all legalize the $2 billion-plus online poker industry.

“Poker is the all-American game,” said Barton, R-Ennis, whose district includes Arlington. “There are literally millions of Americans who play poker in some form nearly every week.

“And there are tens of millions of people on the Internet [playing poker] every day,” he said. “But the United States is the one place you can’t” legally make financial transactions online to play online poker for money.

This month for the third session in a row, Barton filed the Internet Poker Freedom Act, to legalize online poker and give each state a chance to decide whether to allow online gaming.

It already faces a dueling plan that would eliminate all types of online gambling, including poker.

“Internet gambling is very troubling,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has signed on to the opposing bill. “Many online gambling sites don’t screen for underage gamblers and do nothing to prevent money laundering, fraud or other criminal acts.

“Gambling sites are easily accessible and I believe Congress has a responsibility to prevent abuses from occurring.”

Barton said his proposal includes safeguards for people nationwide.

And it could raise $1 billion a year in new revenue for the federal government through online poker transaction fees.

“If they need revenue, … poker could be regarded as a significant revenue raiser,” he said.

Licensed market

Barton, a longtime poker player known even to play a few hands with congressional colleagues while waiting to cast late-night votes, personally prefers playing in person.

He occasionally heads to Oklahoma to play in a casino’s poker room and more often than not finds himself at a table with someone from his district.

Such poker games, including those held in homes nationwide including in Texas, are legal as long as the “house” doesn’t get a cut.

But he knows that many people across the country prefer to play poker online.

However, most online gamblers use offshore websites that aren’t subject to U.S. law — and the Justice Department has said it’s difficult to enforce the law against those sites.

That means winnings can’t be taxed and games can’t be regulated to make sure they are fair and accurate.

“Since the development of the Internet, online Web sites offering Internet poker have raised numerous policy, consumer protection, and enforcement concerns for Federal, State, and tribal governments as such Web sites are run by operators located in many different countries and have sought to attract customers from the United States,” Barton’s bill states.

It would replace the current poker market with a “licensed, well-regulated market that creates U.S. jobs, pays U.S. taxes and provides appropriate consumer protections,” according to a summary of the bill.

Barton said he realizes there is some opposition to his bill, including some church groups. He said he respects that opposition but hopes his proposal moves forward.

Opposing bill

But the entire issue of online gambling is up in the air — and before Congress — because of a 2011 Justice Department ruling regarding the Wire Act of 1961, which restricts betting over telecommunication systems that cross state or national borders.

In a departure from previous rulings, the department said the act applies only to sports betting.

Since that ruling, three states — Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey — moved forward with laws to legalize in-state websites offering casino-type games including poker, blackjack and slot machines.

Legislation is pending in other states including California, New York and Pennsylvania to do the same.

The Restoration of America’s Wire Act, filed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would bring back the restriction on betting over telecommunication systems that cross borders.

It would return the Wire Act to where it was in 2011 before the Justice Department’s ruling.

“In 1999, South Carolina outlawed video poker and removed over 33,000 video poker machines from within its borders,” Graham said. “Now, because of this decision by the Obama administration, virtually any cellphone or computer in South Carolina could become a video poker machine.”

Big money is backing this proposal, as billionaire casino owner and major political donor Sheldon Adelson, along with other gambling opponents, wants to see gambling only in brick-and-mortar casinos.

‘Internet Poker Oversight’

Barton said his bill — which addresses only poker, not any other type of gambling — would do much the same as others he has filed.

“Barton’s bill is common-sense public policy that would allow qualifying states to pool players together to create a more robust market that will drive consumer satisfaction as well as increase state revenues,” said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Player’s Alliance. “A clear regulatory environment is in the best interest of all consumers, operators, regulators, and law enforcement.”

Barton’s bill would create an Office of Internet Poker Oversight in the Commerce Department that would be funded completely by fees paid by poker licensees.

Safeguards in place would prevent money laundering, ensure that children can’t gamble, protect problem gamblers from going overboard and prevent credit cards from being used. And so called “clubs” — public places housing computer terminals to create a casino-type atmosphere — would not be allowed.

Cheating and cheating devices, such as software programs that make bets based on algorithm, would ber prohibited. And states that choose not to participate could opt out.

“We have what we think are more than adequate protections,” Barton said. “Players deserve to have a legal, onshore system that makes sure everyone is playing in an honest, fair structure.

“The complex web of state and local regulations now being devised could leave players at risk.”

This story was originally published July 4, 2015 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Texas hold ’em — legal in Texas?."