Florida to Receive Review Report on Online Gambling Regulations

The state Senate Regulated Industries Committee is scheduled on January 19^th 2010 to receive a report prepared by the Florida state legislature's Office of Program Policy & Government Analysis (OPPAGA) reviewing the regulations both good and bad of the online gambling industry. Florida's need to meet it's budget shortfalls prompted the review by the organization which began it's study last year. Legislators in Florida's house of representatives looked at the content in the report which contains advantages and disadvantages of the current regulatory status. State priorities are being considered by officials that must decide whether to stay with the federal level regulations which are at this stage in debate or to be proactive and make their own rules for internet gambling and in particular poker on the web. Law makers in Florida realize that should they choose to ban all forms of online gambling in the state, enforcement becomes an issue with it's own complexities and costs. Today the people of America already gamble online and playing poker on the web is a major past time of many Americans. Considering the amount of revenue that could be generated by the regulation of the games, Florida would do very well to at the very least allow online poker to be legal in the Sunshine State. It will be interesting to see whether the review has come to any new conclusions as to the financial benefits of regulation than previously stated: "...at this time no objective estimates exist to assess potential state revenues." The Poker Voters of America organisation estimated that as much as $90 million a year could be had from legalised online poker. This is a debate that is raging on in many parts of the USA where lawmakers have come to see that the money spent online gambling is going to companies that are operating offshore where there is no local benefit to be gained.