August 18, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — InterGame Online has pointed out a clause in Senator Robert Menendez’s new online poker legislation that may spell trouble for offshore companies wishing to offer Internet gambling services in the United States.
The phrase " … a federal or state tax return owed to a jurisdiction in which the applicant operates or does business" can be found within the bill by the New Jersey Senator. According to InterGame, some industry observers think this might mean that, under these guidelines, online poker in the United States will be open to American operators only.
Others feel that the language is just there to appease pro-American business politicians who tend to be conservative and who tend to be anti-online gambling legalization efforts, and that the language means little more than that.
Either way, it makes this bill more interesting to watch as it works its way through the U.S. Congress.