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Posts Tagged ‘bill’

The Problem with the UIGEA

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

There are still a lot of issues the online gambling market has to sort out before things are running seamlessly. One of the biggest ones is finding a uniform law to work under. The US and gambling have been toying with each other for years now. It was the 2006 UIGEA that was the most aggressive legislators ever got when it came to wagering. The bill failed, but it was supposed to push gambling out of the US market. The purpose was to task financial institutions with flagging and denying any activities that had to do with gambling. Banks were not crazy about the bill because they knew that the added cost would be a big one. Imagine having to create the manpower to go through every transaction. Sure there are coding laws used, but not all gambling transactions are coded the right way. If a bank accidently let a questionable transaction go through they were then in danger of the money being seized, but also in danger of hefty fines by the government. The trouble it caused to banks was one that they were hoping they could get rid of soon—no such luck. There are legislators trying to turn around the UIGEA, or at minimum amend it, but that isn’t happening as quickly as some would hope. The issue is still up in the air and the UIGEA stands.

Part of the problem with the UIGEA though is that it didn’t define what exactly “gambling” was. This left the rules sketchy and proves how outdated and irrelevant the bill really is. The only thing the bill ended up doing was pushing US gamblers to offshore companies. That channeled billions of dollars out of the country and most likely they are never going to be recovered in the market. Though legislators are pushing towards change, if the issue isn’t faced this year, it could be completely put on hold for another two years. This would be tragic for the US market. It means that states would not yet be able to take advantage of the huge tax revenue dollars that gaming brings in. It will take time to sort through the issue, but hopefully it is sooner than later.

New Jersey Legislators Approve Gaming Bill

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Online gambling in the US is moving forward. There was a question for a long time that gambling would not be allowed in the online market within the states. There are still sides drawn up against each other on the issue. On one hand there are legislators who are concerned about budgetary shortfalls and the deficit. The recent recession did not leave the country in a positive financial state. In fact, there are still a lot of problems to overcome in the market. This is why some legislators believe that with the added money from tax revenue dollars thanks to gambling online being legalized, the country could overcome shortfalls that much quicker. On the other hand though is a group of legislators with equally as convincing an argument. They believe that legalizing online gambling would do little to help the country protect itself. Though they acknowledge that there would be added funds to work with, a portion of those funds could have to be allocated for fixing problems gambling creates. For example, a city with online gambling legalized could bring in $20 million per month in added revenue however, if that initiative creates thirty-thousand new gambling addicts, where would they go for treatment? The city would have to allocate a portion of that $20 million to helping expand its gambling addiction centers and making them more accessible to everyone in trouble.

New Jersey though is a state that is opting towards online gambling’s legalization. Legislators recently approved a bill that would allow for bringing online betting rooms to the citizens of the state. Though the UIGEA is still in effect, it is up to individual states as to what they want to do with gambling and how they want to manage it. New Jersey of course is struggling with its Atlantic City location having drastically diminished numbers since the recession. Legislators are hoping if they open the door to improving the online market, they can bring in the revenues they are losing from the problems with Atlantic City revenues. Only time will tell what is going to happen and if this online gambling initiative is going to go through as planned, but hopefully the state will have some way of reviving its own flailing casino market.

US Gambling Law Needs Solution Soon

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Change in the gambling market is common. Right now the market is leveling itself due to changing rules legislators are toying with. Though online gambling isn’t yet legalized in the US, that doesn’t mean that legislators aren’t working hard to make it happen. They want to make sure that people have the ability to wager online and the governments have the chance to take advantage of the huge tax revenue dollars that casinos bring in. Part of their goal is to overcome the aftermath of the recent recessionary period. It left more than a few countries with huge deficits and problems with their financial states. The US is still toying with various rules and regulations when it comes to gambling online but nothing solid has made its way into legislation as of yet. Right now there are a few law makers who are making it a priority, but they aren’t finding as much support as they would like to push the issue forward. The UIGEA as of now still stands—this is a bill that deems online gambling transactions illegal and forces banking institutions to flag and deny them as they come in. It is one of the biggest problems with gambling today and it could be the most detrimental bills on the table. Part of the problem is that the UIGEA doesn’t define what gambling is or what it includes. This is making it difficult for everyone involved to manage their own online gambling entities.

There are solutions on the table, but none of them have been accepted yet. There is some caution that if legislators don’t make it a priority soon, then the issue will be put off for another two years, leaving the US without the ability to take advantage of tax revenue dollars. At a time when the states are sorely in need of the money, this makes it even more difficult for them to continue without it. If legislators are to make decisions on the issue though, they are going to have to do it quickly. If the issue ends up being shelved for another two years, it could prove difficult to ever implement a workable gambling law.

New Bill Would Change UIGEA

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Legislators are working with gambling laws in the US. There are many people who want to change things, but the problem is big. So far the UIGEA still stands and that bans banks from processing transactions that deal with gambling. The biggest problem is that banks are tasked with flagging and monitoring gambling activities. Legislators are around who want to change the laws, but they are having a difficult time pushing through bills to amend the UIGEA. So far there are a few key players in the fight, but their goals are to do more than to discuss possibilities. The overall goal is to bring a new bill into the mix or at minimum amend the UIGEA. This new configuration of the bill would allow for gaming companies to operate legally. In turn, they would have access to the millions in tax revenue dollars available. Gamblers were unable to wager in the states and so they moved to offshore companies, taking their millions of gambling dollars with them. Legislators look back at that time and realize how much they lost in terms of revenue and how it is unrecoverable at this time. Still—some are pushing for changes that will take advantage of the tax revenue dollars coming in via gambling.

The changes aren’t coming as quickly as hoped for though. Legislators are pushing for a passing of a new bill that would change the laws, but the timeline is not as hasty as wanted. If the issue isn’t sorted out in the near future, it seems that it may be shelved for another two years. That is two year’s worth of gambling dollars that would be fueled out of the country. Gambling is a billion dollar business and is expected to more than double in worth in the next four years, so that leaves the US as a loss of billions. If something isn’t finished soon, this is going to be the outcome and legislators will lose the advantage of millions of tax revenue dollars. Post recession, this is not a good time to pass up the money. It would do a lot for turning the market around that much quicker.

UIGEA Amendment Seems to be on Hold

Saturday, November 6th, 2010

It was hoped that online would get more attention than it has in past months. That may sound odd because gambling has been a hot topic for a lot of companies and in the market, but it isn’t as hot a topic where it counts: legislators. It is true that Representative Barney Frank has been petitioning hard for changes in the gambling market. His main focus is the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. It was a law that should have banned gambling but in the end, all it did was push US gamers to fuel their money out of the country by using offshore gambling companies. In the end it didn’t stop gamblers from wagering in the US, as it was intended to do. For this reason now Frank is taking the reins at changing the laws. He wants to write legislation to amend the UIGEA and offer online gambling to US residents. He wants that money to be kept within the country also.

There is a problem though. The issue of changing the UIGEA and legalizing online gambling has been on the floor for two years now, yet no tangible changes have been made. No strides in the market have happened. The government is no closer to legalization or regulation than it was two years ago. This is proving to be an issue for gaming activists who want the issue to be brought up for debate. They want to see millions of dollars in the US and give the country a chance to generate its own huge revenues. Frank seems to be the only one though who is pushing the issue, and he can’t push it alone. If the issue isn’t addressed soon, experts are saying it won’t be. Or at least it won’t be for another two years when new legislators take their posts. The delay is costing the US billions of dollars though and it is putting the American gaming public in jeopardy. They are playing at non-US websites without the protections the government could potentially give them. Only time will tell where the issues goes in the future, but most likely Frank will continue to push and so will voters.

Proper Legislative Code Needs to Be Written for Gambling

Saturday, November 6th, 2010

Many gambling company operators know that now is a critical time in the world of gambling. Barney Frank is a representative who has been fighting hard to write codes that would allow for online gambling. His biggest focus is amending the UIGEA of 2006. If he can come up with the right legislation, this could be a turning point for the US in terms of gambling. In former years it has been a huge debate in the states whether or not to legalize gambling. it isn’t a question of money necessarily, but that could be what wins out in the end. Frank is working overtime with other legislators to create a code that would allow the US to take advantage of that profit, but still protect gamblers. The debates coming from online websites are centered on the UIGEA. Its original purpose, according to its writers, was to protect online gamblers from dangerous online wagering. Gambling activists are noting that it never did that. In fact by prohibiting gambling, all it did was push millions of online wagerers to move to the online world of gambling from other countries. This put them in dangerous positions because in today’s internet market it is easy to set up an offshore company, then bilk people for millions and then run away.

There are a lot of problems with internet gambling. The US tried prohibition and that didn’t work. People are going to wager wherever it is possible is the only thing legislators learned from the UIGEA. China is another country having problems. There they are trying to ban gambling by restricting internet access. This is becoming a heated debate over government censorship and whether or not they can legally do it. Canada is having problems with legalized gambling because of security breaches they have thus far experienced. Overall the problem comes down to writing the right legislative code to do all that it needs to. Barney Frank is taking the helm at the issue, but he has a strong support system also who want to see his legislation passed. Most likely it will eventually get passed, but the question is how long it will take and what the rules will be.

Changes in Poker Legislation Still Evolving

Friday, June 11th, 2010

For many years now the world of poker had been up for debate. The biggest stride to gambling was the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. This act was meant to make gambling illegal by putting banks in charge of flagging and denying any online gambling activities. Banks weren’t happy about the change because the added responsibility meant an added cost. They had to pay people and pay for software that could detect what activities were considered to be gambling, and then block the transactions. In essence, it made banks completely responsible for policing online gambling activity in the US.

There were two problems with the UIGEA though. First, the UIGEA talked about gambling, made gambling illegal and dictated who would manage gambling online, but it never defined what exactly “gambling” is. There was no clear cut definition of what activities were to fall under the heading of gambling. This made it difficult for legal wagering activities like fund-raisers and lotteries that by all accounts should have remained legal, but were swept away by financial institutions with other illegal activities. The bottom line is that banks that were tasked with the responsibility of managing and denying financial institutions, didn’t want to take the chance of letting legal gambling activities pass through. If banks did allow gambling transactions through, they most likely were the ones to suffer millions in penalties and fees from the government. This made them wary of approving any activity that was even close to gambling.

Now things are changing and many legislators are trying to write bills that will adequately regulate the world of gambling. legislators know full well how much money is available with gambling—it offers millions of potential tax-revenue dollars to come into the states. This is why various representatives are focused on writing bills that help. Not only will they define what gambling is, but the bills also aspire to dictate what procedures should be used to regulate it. It will take more time, but most likely 2010 will bring many changes in the legislation regarding gambling. Certain representatives are making gambling law their priority and writing laws to legalize and regulate the gambling industry.

Pennyslvania Also Weighting in on Gambling

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Pennsylvania is another state to start looking at gambling’s legalizaiton to bring in money it needs. The state already has a working budget that includes table game gambling as a means of generating funds. Though a few short years ago it was unheard of to use gambling as a budgetary item, in today’s world things are changing quickly. Not only is gambling quickly becoming the “go to” activity for states in need of extra money, but it is also being added to the budgets. Funds coming in are already being earmarked for certain activities in the state’s budget like education, roads, construction, and public works programs.

The House voted in favor of a large gambling Bill that would bring sweeping changes to the casino industry in the Northeast. The Bill, which was passed by a close 97-95 vote, sets tax and licensing rates, and also appropriates the money to various places in the budget.  There is also a seperate bill that the House also voted in favor of and this one channels gambling funds directly to education costs at state-run unversities. The recession has made it difficult for most colleges and universities to keep providing financial help to students without funds of their own. Many scholarships and funds have been cut as a result of the recession.  Now the state is looking to revitalize the world of education by focusing gambling funds directly to the cause of scholarship funding.

Despite some changes, there is still a split among parties regarding gambling and legalizing it. The House majority Democrats were able to push legislation through even though most Republicans voted against it. It’s a hot-topic in the world of politics today and it is motsly Democrats who are pushing it into legalization and regulation.
The final approval is needed though to move forward. The House is set to rule on the issue. If approved, the tax rate for race tracks would be 16% for any table game. The rate would drop to 14% in 2011. A one-time licensing fees would be $16.5 million. The money brought in by legalizing gambling is nothing to deny. It’s a huge opportunity for the state, but legislators have to be careful to not earmark the funds too quickly. Though it sounds good, will people really start gambling again? Is the economy recovered enough for people to regain their confidence in the market? Only time will tell.