UIGEA Likely to be Postponed- Part 1
Everyone is worried about December 1st and the UIGEA implementation that is planned. The UIGEA is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and it was set to go into motion on December 1st. It targeted the banking institutions that may be used to fund or deposit money directly related to gambling. The UIGEA makes banks responsible for flagging and denying any transaction that is related to online wagering. Banks were not happy about that due to the added cost to them to create filters and a flagging system. If a transaction got past their security watch, they could be fined millions of dollars as a result.
People were also not happy because that meant that anyone in the US was not able to transact for gambling purposes using their financial institution. The result was people continued to direct funds to offshore gambling websites that accept US players. Politicians cited the problem with offshore gambling is that billions of dollars were being channeled out of the country and into other countries economies. As one politician put it, “The US is letting millions of dollars in funding slip through its fingers every day it does not legalize online gambling.”
Online operators were not happy either with the UIGEA ruling. It means that a whole market is not legally allowed to participate in the billion-dollar industry that is online gambling. US operators had to move their businesses to offshore areas like Gibraltar or Macau, where casino and gambling laws are much more operator-friendly. The taxes are manageable and they are set up via their infrastructure to handle online gambling as an industry. Many US online casino operators have left the country to do business as a result.
The hot topic for online gambling has been December 1st and whether or not the UIGEA would be made law. Barney Frank and a number of other Congressmen have requested that the UIGEA be pushed back one year before implementation. They are hoping that within that time, a more adequate online gambling law can be instituted and brought into the market. A law that is both all-encompassing and thorough in its writings. The main problem with the UIGEA is that when it was written, there were no real decisive laws on what “gambling” actually is defined as.
Part two coming next.
