Heavy-weight support is growing for a legislative movement to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that was passed in the U.S. last year. House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Senator Barney Frank, publicly commented on the situation for the first time since first making his intentions known a couple of weeks ago that he was seeking out solutions to dismantle what he called "the stupidest law ever passed".

Frank certainly is serious about dismantling the UIGEA with counter-legislation, although he says it is still too early to take any significant actions in having the online gambling ban lifted. What is promising is that Frank suggested that a growing number of congressional members are rethinking the issue. Since nobody is officially on board with Frank just yet, he is only testing the waters at the present moment. In the next couple of weeks Frank says he will introduce or register the bill so he can gauge the level of support.

Congressman Frank recently returned from a trip to Europe in which he met with European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services of the European Union, Charlie McCreevy. A major portion of their talks was no doubt about the World Trade Organization's recent ruling against the U.S. in regards to its online gambling discriminations. McCreevy has even hinted that he may take on the UIGEA himself within the courts of the World Trade Organization.

Whatever ends up happening, there certainly is hope for U.S. bettors who are struggling to make deposits at online casinos these days. Frank said that the House Financial Services Committee alone could do no more than lift the ban on the use of credit cards at online gambling sites. Well, most gamblers would agree that that alone would make things good in the neighborhood. Frank is even fighting the online gambling industry as whole. He said he will not make a "distinction between blackjack and poker", referring to the lobbying efforts of the online poker industry to gain exemptions just for the game of poker.