On Friday, a US Representative introduced a new online poker bill into the House.

After much delay and defeat, it appears the fight in the legislature for legal online gambling in the United States is not dead in the water. Last Friday, June 24, 2011, US Representative Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, introduced a new bill to the House of Representatives that would legalize online poker in the U.S.

Barton's new bill, which was welcomed by the Poker Players Alliance, would allow for the licensing, regulating and taxing of online poker. It would also allow states who wished to be no part of it to opt-out. It also prohibits the use of credit cards to deposit money into online poker real money accounts.

Barton's bill was introduced with several signers-on, including Democratic Representatives from Nevada, Tennessee, Michigan, Massachusetts, Colorado and California, and fellow Republican Representatives from California, New York, and Barton's own Texas.

The US Department of Commerce would be the entity responsible for regulating how states issue licenses to businesses wanting to offer online poker to their residents. Provisions of the bill include a mandate for addressing problem gambling and ensuring minors aren't able to get in on the action.

The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative takes issue with a part of these provisions, however, spokesman Michael Waxman exclaiming that it goes to far in preventing people from using credit cards to fund their online poker accounts.

In a press-release Barton described poker as "an all-American game" that involves a great deal of skill and strategy.