The effort to roll back an Internet gambling ban has reached the Senate, with a bill by Senator Robert Menendez that calls for licensing and regulating online poker and other „games of skill“ instead of outlawing them. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, intends to introduce the bill today, according to the Poker Players Alliance, which lobbies against the 2006 ban.

A bill pushed through the California legislature is set to allow larger Californian charities to offer bingo games throughout the state online. The bill would present opportunities for tribal gaming to move online. Backed by Senator Gil Cedillo, SB 1369 passed through Senate and is now awaiting submission to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger amidst protests from hundreds of local charities who face devastation.

A bill that would relieve a significant burden on US financial services companies forced to implement a ban on Internet gambling passed a critical hurdle in Congress today. The Payments System Protection Act (H.R. 6870), approved by the House Committee on Financial Services, would direct the Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System, in consultation with the Attorney General.

Among five bills scheduled for a vote this week by the House Financial Services Committee is a new version of the Payment Systems Protection Act introduced September 11 by Representative Barney Frank. As was its predecessor, that bill is intended to respond to the concerns of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and many others in the financial services industry…

A bill in the California legislature that would have allowed the state’s card rooms to offer online poker and would have taxed it won’t be considered again until next year. Poker Voters of America, which had asked for the bill to be introduced, also asked that it be shelved, because they expect the bill to be revised and reintroduced next year by new sponsors from both parties.

While attending a recent celebrity poker tournament near the Democratic Convention in Denver, Representative Barney Frank did not act defeated regarding the failure of his bill to prevent the enforcement of the UIGEA to escape committee. In fact, Frank told reporters that the law would pass in 2009 under a Democrat-controlled Congress. This news was met with hope by all online gambling fans, as well as purists for individual freedom.

A bill seeking to restrict offshore casinos to the sea beyond five nautical miles from Goa’s coast was introduced in the Goa Assembly last week. It also specified that casinos should be operated only from maritime vessels. ’The Goa Public Gambling (Amendment) Bill, 2008’ introduced by the leader of the opposition, Manohar Parrikar during the slot for private members’ bills, sought to amend section 13A of the Goa Public Gambling Act, 1976.

Panaji: A Bill seeking to restrict offshore casinos to the sea beyond five nautical miles from Goa’s coast was introduced in the Goa Assembly on Friday. It also specified that casinos should be operated only from maritime vessels. ‚The Goa Public Gambling (Amendment) Bill, 2008′ introduced by the leader of the opposition, Manohar Parrikar during the slot for private members‘ bills, sought to amend section 13A of the Goa Public Gambling Act, 1976.

Once again, legislation has been introduced before the US Congress seeking to manage the usage of the UIGEA while mitigating the harmful effects. Republican Pete Sessions has composed a measure designed to remove the vagaries of the UIGEA, as well as specify exactly what illegal conduct is targeted. Sessions’ bill acknowledges the confusion and disarray caused by the UIGEA. It also states the conflicting and outdated nature of American laws concerning gambling.

After being approved by Parliament in May, President Thabo Mbeki has signed South African National Gambling Amendment Bill into law but, frustratingly, the legislation will not be implemented ‘until a date chosen by the President’. With the President’s signature, South Africa has become the latest nation to legalize online gambling but it could still be some time before operations begin as officials work out on how to implement all of the new legislation in the Bill.

Washington (AP) – The House soundly defeated a plan Wednesday that would have advanced two proposed Indian casinos in Michigan, as gambling opponents and interests protecting Detroit’s casinos rallied to scuttle the bill. The measure, rejected by a vote of 298-121, touched off a spirited debate over gambling and the rights of Indian tribes and pitted Michigan lawmakers against each other amid charges the tribes were engaging in „reservation shopping.“

Internet gambling and betting regulation is the aim of a new project which is being analyzed by the government and the autonomous communities in Spain. A meeting of the Sectoral Gambling Commission, comprised by representatives of Ministry of the Interior, the State Secretary of the Information Society, of the Tax Agency the National Entity of Lotteries and Bets of the State (ONLAE) and the communities.