News

Tuesday, 31 August 2010 11:51

Initially opposed to Barney Frank's bill (HR 2267) to legalize US online gambling, the National Football League has now changed its tune.

The original opposition that the NFL had against Frank's proposals has been withdrawn following the rewording of the amended HR 2267. The NFL is one of the biggest and most powerful of all sports organisations in the US and this about turn in its stance over the proposals to legalize online gambling are seen as a healthy boost to the progress of the bill as it faces the legal process that will finally see it have to run the gauntlet of the country's top lawmakers in Congress. 

When the House Financial Services Committee recently read the bill's initial draft, sports betting and its status was not clarified and there was no mention as to whether it would even be included. But last week when the final markup was made, the bill's wording was amended and part of the amendment emphasized that there would be no inclusion of sports betting of any type apart from horse racing in HR 2267.

The amendment was sufficient to convince the NFL that it satisfied their misgivings concerning the bill and prompted them to issue a statement via Brian McCarthy Vice President of Communication, which said that the NFL does not oppose HR 2267 as it now includes the language hoped for and that they are pleased with its outcome.

The NFL had been instrumental in influencing the successful implementation of the UIGEA in 2006 which created the effective ban on all forms of Internet based gambling in the US. Their influence was such that they were successfully able to force at bill to exempt fantasy football from the legislation. When the NFL had succeeded with that, they then actively involved themselves in pushing through the legislation. As such, their opposition to Frank's bill to overturn this law had initially cause concern that they may be able to prevent its passage into law.

With the change in the NFL's approach towards HR 2267, many see this as a partial victory for the bill and its passage has been made a little easier with the removal of what many believe to be its strongest opposition. Proponents of online gambling are happy at this turn of events as they need all the help they can get to have their preferred pastime made legal once again.