Nevada Democrat House Representative, Shelley Berkeley, has been making good on her word to introduce legislation calling for a one-year study of the U.S. facing online gambling industry. Last week, Congresswoman Berkeley announced that her bill specifically calls for the National Academy of Sciences to conduct the study. She also revealed the bill already has sixty co-sponsors, all of which are coming from an equal balance of Democrats and Republicans.

Casino gaming analysts agree the bipartisan nature of the bill lends it a receptive quality to members of Congress, thus improving its odds of being passed. Additionally, the bill has some heavyweight sponsors, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank and Judiciary Committee Chairman, John Conyers, whose panel presides over many of the issues Berkeley's bill directly deals with. With the support of Conyers, the bill has very good chances of getting a Congressional hearing this session.

The bill has been referred to three important committees, including the aforementioned Judiciary and House Financial Services Committees. It has also been referred to the Ways and Means Committee. With all of the necessary backing, not to mention the timing of the bill, there is a possibility that if passed, the study could delay the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act from going into enforcement, which it is scheduled to do some time in June.

Berkeley is also a co-sponsor of Frank's Internet Gambling Regulation Enforcement Act (IGREA), which seeks to counter the exclusivity of the UIGEA, yet is not seeking to reverse it. And despite the fact that many U.S. politicians oppose casino gambling on moral grounds, and that even if regulation appears to be a feasible alternative , yet does not sit well with conservative members of Congress, Frank is going forward with the IGREA at the current moment.

Backed by an in-depth and impartial study, as well as a grassroots movement in which U.S. citizens passionately express their right to gamble online, members of Congress have no choice but to pay attention and give ample consideration to regulating online casinos, poker rooms and the whole gamut of internet betting.