According to a recent story reported in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the battle to legalize and regulate online poker in the United States may be a dead subject until 2013.

The issue of legalizing online poker in the United States may not see the light of day until at least next year, according to a recent report published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Reports that story, on Friday, February 17, 2012, a Wall Street gaming analyst for Macquarie Securities by the name of Chad Benyon told investors that the federal legislature’s debate in Washington about legalizing online poker has probably been pushed ahead to 2013. This, the analyst says, is based on the observation that the legislators neglected to attach any online gaming related bill to the recent extension of the payroll tax cuts.

All of this, as is always the case when it comes to Washington (and Wall Street) is conjecture, as Congress can just as easily attach an online gaming related bill to some other piece of legislation crossing their desks this year. The payroll tax cut extension was simply the most likely opportunity in the foreseeable future to do such a thing.

And although all attempts at standalone legislation for online poker or online gaming in general have so far hit dead ends, that doesn’t mean certain pro-gaming (or pro-tax revenue from gaming) legislators aren’t still devising new standalone online gaming bills to put forth to their colleagues.

Of course as usual, the only way any of us will know for sure is to wait it out and see.