A new champion for U.S. online gambling

Representative John D. Payne is a name that is becoming increasingly familiar in the online gambling context following his well-planned and executed moves toward achieving intrastate legality for the industry in Pennsylvania.

Recently appointed chair of the powerful state House Gaming Oversight Committee, the energetic Payne has in the current session already held hearings and introduced online gambling legalisation proposal HB 649 – without bad actor language (see previous reports) and more recently HR 140 – a resolution that urges the US Congress to reject the Adelson-inspired Restoration of the American Wire Act.

Payne’s efforts in the influential Pennsylvania gambling market are particularly useful this season, given the introduction of HB 695 – a poker-only legalisation bill that does include bad actor language – by Rep. Nick Miccarelli .

Miccarelli has vowed to “…exclude all those who violated the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.”

Furthermore, his bill does not include provision for the possible negotiation of interstate liquidity sharing compacts by Pennsylvania.

Payne is a strong believer in states’ rights, and he is therefore critical of the Restoration of the American Wire Act proposal. It has prompted him to launch HR140 to counter what he perceives to be an attempt to impose federal interference on Pennsylvania – and for that matter all states – rights over gambling control.

Further hearings on internet gambling in the state are scheduled for April 16 this year.