A leading poker expert predicts this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) will be hurt by new American legislation that makes it harder to gamble online.

Los Angeles sportscaster and poker expert Fred Wallin, who has hosted numerous radio shows about poker on the Business Talk Radio Network in the USA, said in an exclusive interview with PokerHelper.com that the new law will hurt the WSOP because some WSOP participants qualify by playing in online poker tournaments.

Since the new law discourages all online gambling. he said, there will be fewer WSOP participants qualifying online and thus, fewer overall WSOP participants in 2007 than in 2006.

The U.S. Congress last year passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which makes it illegal for American financial entities, like banks and credit card companies, to transfer monies to and from online gambling sites.

The new law does not make online gambling illegal—either for those gambling or for those running the gambling sites—it just makes it more difficult for online gamblers to send and receive funds to and from gambling websites.

The new law doesn’t go into effect for six more months.

“I think some poker players who have been playing online will now be afraid to play online,” said Wallin, who is also a former Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster.  “They’ll be afraid to play because they won’t know if their online poker site will stay in business.

“Also, I think the slowness of regular mail and even Fedex will slow down the industry, because online poker players will no longer be able to transer funds instantly via credit card and play,” he added.

Wallin, who’s been playing poker for over 40 years, summed up the situation thusly: “All in all, there will definitely be a decrease in the number of online poker players, and based on that, a decrease in the number of satellite tournaments that give us a shot at the WSOP.”

He then added: “Isn’t the credo of the so-called conservatives ‘individual freedom’? I guess that doesn’t include my right to play poker using a credit card, or my own bank account.”