Great news for poker players in the United States, and for poker players around the world, that play poker players in the United States.  Online poker has gotten a reprieve.  The U.I.G.E.A. (The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) the impending bane to poker players trying to transfer money to play online poker has been pushed back.

One of poker’s best friends, an irascible democrat, Rep. Barney Frank from Massachussetts shall make a statement Friday that good news is coming for the time being.  Whether or not it is delaying the inevitable remains to be seen.  Frank will state that U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in accordance with the Poker Players Alliance’s (PPA)  petition, will delay the compliance date for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The PPA, like a old pro fading a ton of outs, declined to comment on the possible delay.  They probably won’t say anything until it’s entirely official.

Pokernews and other sites are reporting it will be a six month delay.  That’s half of what the PPA requested but it’s good enough.  It will barely beat the deadline of December one when banks and other financial institutions were to take on full responsibility for basically regulating online poker and Internet gambling.  All outgoing transactions to those type of websites were to be eradicated.  

Frank isn’t just going to sit on his hands either, he’s still actively fighting the good fight.  He has already scheduled a hearing to get his two bills discussed on the docket.  One of the bills asks that the delay to the U.I.G.E.A be pushed all the way back to December of next year. 

The delay is notable not only because it postpones the restrictions on poker players but also because Frank will now have time to convince Congress his viewpoint has merits.   Frank, Internet poker’s unlikely friend, has been a critical figure, and a much criticized one to boot, for his active participation in the economic stimulus.  Also, he’s had a bit of a personal scandal drag his name through the mud or should we say weeds.  However, that hasn’t detered his focus on pushing his pet issue of poker. 

Pokernews reported that the PPA stated, “We thought it would probably have to wait until January, so we’re pleasantly surprised to see this happen in December.”  Their executive director John Pappas continued “I think Barney is sending a strong message to regulators and others that he’s serious about changing this law. He’s going to move forward with his plans to license and regulate this industry.”

Something else is afoot.  Thanks to a recent alliance between the PPA and the National Thoroughbread Racing Association and American Greyhound Track Operators Association they filed a joint petition.  There is a lot of racing in poker, be it live poker or online poker, and now the two activities have a lot more in common, or rather a common enemey. 

This relatively new alliance may have had a significant impact on swaying Tim Geithner.    Filed two months ago the petition aligned a new group that could inadvertantly be adversely affected by U.I.G.E.A.   Congressmen have been lining up to support the delay.  Including several Kentucky congressmen who wrote a letter that brought to light incidents of a credit card company blocking horse racing transactions. 

The interesting thing is the banks are blocking a sport which received a specific exemption, showing that even the ones exempted are suffering harm by the legislation. It remains to be seen how the banks and credit card companies will respond to a delay.   Online poker at a minimum has one a small battle.  Whether the victory can be transformed into momentum for change or is a small bump in the road for the opposition is anybody’s guess.