BY TOM SOMACH

To the surprise of no one, online poker’s paid flack is giving thumbs up to a new bill in the U.S. Congress that would legalize, license and regulate online gambling.

Former New York senator Alfonse “Al” D’Amato, hired earlier this year by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) to be the chief lobbyist for the online poker industry, said the bill–introduced by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank last month–is good politics.

“Congressman Frank’s bill is a common sense approach to Internet gaming,” said D’Amato, in a statement issued by the PPA on its website, www.pokerplayersalliance.org.

“Licensing and regulation will allow us sort out the most responsible sites who are good corporate citizens from those engaged in unscrupulous activities and practices,” he said.

“This legislation creates good public policy that establishes real safeguards that protect minors and problem gamblers while allowing the majority of adults to enjoy poker and other games online.

“Americans have played poker throughout history,” D’Amato continued. “Playing poker on the Internet is simply an example of an American tradition evolving into the 21st century.

“The age verification technology that exists today to keep kids off of poker sites was non-existent years ago. The time is now, to license and regulate operators and allow U.S. poker sites to compete with offshore ones.

“The internet poker genie is out of the bottle and you cannot put it back. The United Kingdom successfully regulates internet gambling and with this bill we can too.”

Frank’s bill will not only reverse UIGEA–the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that cracked down on online gambling and was passed by the Congress last year–it will also legalize, license and regulate all forms of online gambling, including online poker.

The bill also makes provisions to make sure children and compulsive gamblers aren’t allowed to gamble online (at least not at the licensed sites).

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)