A United States senator has introduced a new bill in the U.S. Congress to legalize online poker in the USA.

According to media reports, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez introduced legislation last week that would “establish a legal framework to license and regulate online poker in the United States.”

Called the Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act of 2008, the bill would amend the current law to “provide for the licensing of Internet skill game facilities,” the reports said.

The bill defines an online skill game as “an Internet-based game that uses simulated cards, dice or tiles in which success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players, including poker, bridge and mahjong,” the reports said.

“This is really a bill that poker players could love,”=9D said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), a lobbying group that for the past three years has tried to get a law passed to legalize online poker in the U.S.

“It’s written to directly help the online poker playing community to establish licensed and regulated poker in the U.S.,” Pappas said. “We believe that it is a great marker for the next Congress and the new administration.”

Media reports said that if the bill passes, the U.S. Treasury Secretary would be responsible for the licenses, along with the safeguards, regulations and testing mechanisms necessary to license online poker and other online skill games.

The secretary would also be responsible for monitoring licensed sites in order to guarantee they are following the rules and the games remain fair, the reports said.

“One of the things that Senator Menendez really gravitated to is the fact that, under the current environment, consumers aren’t getting the protection that they deserve,” Pappas said. “He wanted to introduce a bill that would provide a regulatory framework that protected U.S. consumers from fraud and abuse, and also to ensure that children don’t get access to the websites, and to protect problem gamblers as well.”

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