US Online Gambling Advocate Quits Congress

The United States Congress lost its most vocal advocate of online gambling this week with Barney Frank's announcement that he will not seek re-election in 2012. But don't despair, as his legacy lives on and his bills could still be turned into law.

Frank, a 16-term veteran representative for Massachusetts was known for taking liberal positions on key issues, including gay rights, abortion and of course online gambling. He has been chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, a powerful position, since 2007.

He received praise from some of the most important names in US politics after retiring, including the president himself. Obama pointed out that Frank co-authored one of "the most sweeping financial reforms in history" aimed at preventing the excesses of Wall Street which sparked the 2008 global financial crisis.

But for the gambling industry and its users, Barney Frank will be immortalized for his advocacy of one of the most important issues of the day - the right of American adults to wager online on poker, sportsbooks and other forms of betting.

Frank himself is positive his efforts to overturn a 2006 federal law effectively banning internet gambling will succeed. At the news conference where he announced his retirement, he said he would continue to promote gaming legislation, and he sees "an opening for success."

Barney Frank was everywhere when it came to the legalization on online gambling, even talking about it in detail when he appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno in September 2010. He told Leno it wasn't just a right but was also economically beneficial, and could bring billions in revenue each year just "by making it legal and taxing it."

As chairman of financial services, Frank has been the force behind HR 2267, a bill introduced to overturn the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, and to allow Americans a free choice when it comes to e-gambling.