The race is on.  It has been said on more than one occasion that online casinos will never be legalized in the United States before online poker.  The logic comes from the fact that more and more people are starting to understand that poker is a game of skill and that the United States government will be far more accepting of regulating and legalizing online poker before they would be okay with legalizing online casinos.

For a while it looked like online casinos would be dead in the water for a while.  The great champion of online casinos, Representative Barney Frank, was tied up dealing with issues related to the economic depression and it appeared yet another year would go by without any real progress on regulating online casinos.

That was of course until the Department of the Treasury granted Frank’s wish to postpone enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act for another 6 month; giving him time work on a law that will instead regulate online casinos.  Although nothing will be done by the end of the year, it is a promising sign that not only will things change soon, but the current administration welcomes the opportunity for change.

Not only are things moving along for online casinos, progress is being made for online poker as well.  California has long toyed with the idea of regulating online poker as an additional source of income.  Now California has made their intentions clear by announcing a hearing on a plan to regulate online poker scheduled for this February.