Last month we reported that South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham was trying a backdoor approach to get RAWA language added to a Senate Appropriations bill.

Fortunately, that tactic appears doomed to fail after a similar measure failed to be added to a House Appropriations bill on Tuesday.

Dent Fails to Get Similar Language Added to House Bill

Last month, Senator Graham added language to the Senate Appropriations bill that would have been the equivalent of backdoor passage for RAWA.

However, similar language would have to appear in the house version of the bill if such a tactic is to work. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent attempted to have RAWA language inserted into that bill.

According to the Poker Player's Alliance, Dent showed a clear lack of understanding on how regulated online poker works and was unable to garner any support for the measure.

Ultimately, Dent was forced to withdraw his amendment from the House Appropriations bill. That defeat will ultimately spell disaster for Graham and his attempt to backdoor RAWA.

RAWA Too Unpopular to Sneak By Lawmakers in House

Although Graham was able to sneak a RAWA earmark into the Senate Appropriations bill, Dent failed to do so due to overwhelming opposition to the bill.

RAWA would ban online gambling in most forms, which clearly treads on state's rights. It was clear on Tuesday that opposition would be too great to overcome and Dent was quickly forced to pull his amendment.

We will likely see the same on the Senate side as their version moves forward. Since Dent was unable to get language added to the House bill, Graham will be forced to pull his amendment soon.

NOT The Final Nail in the Coffin for RAWA - Not Yet

Despite the fact that RAWA has never had enough support to even make it to a vote; the risk of a new version of the bill will remain at least for the near future.

It is believed that the only thing that will finally kill RAWA for good is iGaming becoming regulated in another viable market.

Right now, Pennsylvania and Michigan are the two markets with enough momentum to possibly get there in 2016.

California will likely not make it this year unless suitability issues become resolved soon rather than later. And New York? We're still at least 2 years away from reasonable progress there.

While RAWA may not be dead, we may be getting to a point where the bill lacks any real danger for U.S. iPoker. Until sponsors can garner enough support to move towards an actual floor vote, RAWA will merely be the monster under the bed of U.S. iPoker.