An unlikely candidate to champion the cause of online poker players in the United States may be the one who finally brings about some changes. Rep. Joe Barton, who is Congress’ biggest backer of oil drilling and nuclear waste repositories, doesn’t seem the most likely of politicians to back an online gambling regulation bill. However, it just may be that Barton’s plan to introduce a new bill to a new committee could do the trick.

Barton wants to introduce a bill very similar to Barney Frank’s last on that failed last year when it was steered through the House Financial Services Committee, except that Barton’s will go through the Energy and Commerce, of which he is chairman emeritus. And the simple reason that Barton wants to back the bill, besides the fact that fifteen million people play it online and that it has the potential to earn millions for the US economy, is because he is a huge fan of the game.

“I love to play poker,” he told the Vegas Sun in an interview. “When I was in the minority, I told the other lawmakers, ‘you’re in the majority, do something about it.’ But now I’m in the majority and I’m trying to get it going.”

Barton has a few obstacles ahead of him. He needs to enable the Commerce Department with the authority to issue new poker operators with licenses. In addition, he needs to ensure that his new legislation takes into account the recent legal developments in the online poker industry, namely Black Friday.

Barton has the support of the PPA and director, John Pappas noted: “We think he can bring a very strong coalition of conservative-minded Republicans to support it. He’s respected, not only with the more socially conservative, but the more fiscally conservative caucus within the House, and brings a really credible voice to this issue … because he understands why regulation makes sense, not only from the perspective of a lawmaker, but also that of a poker player.”

The fragile bill introduced in Illinois that could see gambling expanded across the state may need to be scaled down in order to avoid Governor Pat Quinn from issuing a veto, thereby sending the bill back once more to the drawing board. According to Senator Terry Link (D), one of the sponsors of the gambling bill, the governor has indicated “very strongly” that he wants to see a reduction in the bill. “His message was loud and clear to us, and we have to see how we can do this to appease what his concerns are,” he said. This is the first major hurdle: To see how much needs to be cut back in order to please the governor and avoid a veto.

The second obstacle may be even bigger: To ensure that all the interest groups who got together to put the bill together are left satisfied, even after the reductions.

The current legislation allows the construction of a casino in Chicago, as well as in four other locations – Danville, Rockford, Lake County and southern Cook County. In addition, O’Hare and Midway airports will be allowed to offer slots, as will six licensed horse tracks. The bill also allows riverboats to increase their gambling services, while a racino will be added at the Springfield state fairgrounds.

It’s too early to tell which of these will be left out of a scaled back bill, but if some type of agreement is reached, the new bill could be voted on in a matter of weeks. However, many have their reservations about the success of a scaled down bill.

“I’ve been working on this bill for 20 years, and I finally found the right combination,” said co-sponsor, Lou Lang. “If slots at tracks come off, you can’t pass the bill. If the money for downstate agriculture comes off, you can’t pass the bill. If you take out casinos for Danville and Rockford, it might damage the ability to pass the bill.”

The Heartland Poker Tour, which is responsible for bringing affordable poker tournaments to locations across the United States, has been acquired by Federated Sports and Gaming. The Heartland Tour, which has been part of the local poker scene since 2005, specializes in low buy in prices in order to attract amateur players and poker fans, and also runs satellites to top poker events to allow players the opportunity to experience top tournaments.

The Heartland Poker Tour is virtually a household name in over 100 million American homes, and is currently in its seventh season of broadcasts. However, it’s not just the Americans who are familiar with this brand. The Heartland Tour also appears on TV channels in the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East.

Federated Sports and Gaming runs its own tour around the country and has over 200 players onboard for its Federated Poker League. By combining these two entities, both will have an opportunity to grow and expand, bringing quality poker to US players.

Jeffrey Pollack, former World Series of Poker commissioner who formed Federated Sports and Gaming said: “HPT will be a satellite channel for our Pro-AM events. I wouldn’t be surprised if the winners of HPT events end up earning seats to our Pro-AM events, but we haven’t figured all that out yet. That’s a possibility, and then again, the HPT tournaments with a $1,500 buy in our higher count toward qualification in the pro league.”

He said that this move was about “Federated providing a complete poker offering that includes the pros, but also developmental and amateur players.”