Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ, pictured), who helped push through the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) five years ago, is retiring from the U.S. Senate. The news should be quite positive for online poker players, as one of the industry’s major detractors will be giving up his post and likely heading to the private sector. The UIGEA sent the internet gambling and online poker industries in the United States into a tailspin and led to the departure of the largest site at the time, PartyPoker, from the U.S. market.

Kyl shared what his future holds in an interview with KGUN in Tucson, Arizona earlier this week: “I will not run for anything nor am I going to serve as a cabinet officer or anything like that. I said if someone wanted to tap me as a Vice Presidential nominee, I’d love to be able to do that, but that’s not going to happen… so you don’t need to pursue that story.”

Kyl’s fellow Senator from Arizona is John McCain, who was the Republican Presidential nominee in 2008, but lost out to Barack Obama.

Kyl’s current term expires in January 2013, shortly after the next Presidential election in November 2012. On his legacy in Arizona, Kyl told KGUN, “I know I’ve been in there fighting every day – As Teddy Roosevelt said, ‘Fighting in the dusty arena,’ although it’s not all measurable in bills I have passed… I think I’ve done a good job of representing Arizona’s interests and helping to keep our country safe and, to the extent I could, fight for the freedom and the smaller government that I think most Arizonans want.”

Kyl currently serves as the Senate Minority Whip. Following last year’s general election in the United States, the House of Representatives turned over to Republican control, while Democrats retained power in the Senate. Harry Reid (D-NV, pictured), who proposed a draft bill legalizing online poker late last year, continues to serve as the Senate Majority Leader.

Along with then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Congressmen like Bob Goodlatte (R-VA, pictured) and Jim Leach (R-IA), Kyl succeeded in attaching the UIGEA to the SAFE Port Act in the final seconds of the 2006 Congressional session. The SAFE Port Act, a non-germane piece of port security legislation, sailed through the U.S. House by a 421-2 vote and was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent.

When the implementation of the UIGEA’s regulations was ultimately delayed, Kyl delayed the appointments of several nominees to the U.S. Treasury before finally giving way in February 2010. A writer for Congressional Daily told Poker News Daily at the time, “My understanding is that Kyl placed the hold because he was upset at the delayed implementation of the UIGEA.”

Kyl took up residence in the U.S. Senate beginning in 1995. Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade in the House as a Representative from Arizona’s Fourth Congressional District.