Barney Frank’s poker bills are gaining strong support in Congress, and it looks like this coming year, 2010, might be the year that the current impact and future threat of the oppressive 2006 UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). After getting 13 cosponsors in one fell swoop (bringing the number to 34), a congressman from the other side of the aisle has reached across to lend his support and become number 35.

It’s Republican Representative Don Young of Alaska, which makes a great deal of sense in that Alaskans are intimately aware of the value of casino gambling to the local economy.

Frank’s leading congressional opponent to his bills is Spencer Bacchus, Republican Representative of Nevada, and even he admits that they have a much better chance of being passed into law now, when the Democrats have a majority in Congress and not the Republican majority that existed the last time Frank, Chairman of the House Finances Committee, tried to boost the economy by licensing and regulating legal U.S. poker.