Congress still afraid to define 'internet gambling'

Whatever it is. It's illegal


The intellectual haze that envelopes American internet gambling policy thickened the past week, as lawmakers failed to define what exactly constitutes "unlawful" internet gambling. As absurd as it sounds, two years after the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), Congress still can’t make up its collective mind as to what behavior the law is intended to cover. A bill before the House Financial Services Committee would have blocked the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve from enforcing the UIGEA. Even worse, it would have forced the lawmakers to define what constitutes illegal online gambling. Alas, the bill died, leaving our fine nation in the dark.


The UIGEA was attached in the middle of the night to a terrorism-related port security bill at the end of a congressional session, meaning that no one actually read it. The purpose of the law was to freeze internet gambling companies out of the American financial system, and the law put the onus on financial institutions to ensure that Americans were not gambling online.

Financial institutions have complained bitterly about bearing a financial burden more properly borne by the federal government’s own law enforcement agencies, and the Treasury Department has dragged its heels on the matter. There has never been any comprehensive federal law covering gambling, and prior federal law seemed to allow some forms of gambling while banning others. Even the World Trade Organization (WTO) got involved, when Antigua-Barbuda, a scrappy Caribbean internet gambling haven, filed (and won) a claim against the US before the international trade body.

"The financial institutions are in the position of being told not process bets, but it's not clear what is legal and what is illegal," said Representative Barney Frank, the committee's chairman, calling it "a job that is undoable." One of the main sticking points has been check processing, which is still largely done by hand.

Ironically, the law had an even greater impact than its drafters had probably hoped for, even though it has never properly gone into effect. The regulations were supposed to have been drafted over a year ago, but the mere passage of the law wiped billions off the market value of internet companies. Throw in a couple of arrests of prominent European gambling executives on other gambling charges, and the market was in chaos.

Certain types of remote gaming are allowed in the US under the law, such as gambling on horse racing or fantasy sports, and even in its twilight state short of full implementation, the UIGEA has widely been viewed as a hand-out to the domestic gambling industry. Gaming, in all its iterations, is an industry ideally suited to the internet medium, and Congress’s craven inability to define its own laws has left American operators out in the cold, or locked up in jail. Until Congress figures out what it wants to do with an industry they wish would go away, financial institutions and gamblers will remain in limbo. ®


Author; Burke Hansen
Published; Tuesday 1st July 2008 02:21 GMT
Copyright; The Register



---

LOL the us government is such a joke

...and Vegas is losing revenues. If our legislators wake up and realize that the servers can indeed be placed in locations wherein gambling is legal within our borders, the funds would stay in the States. As it is, they are sending, by such Legislation, our gaming funds overseas in enormous quantities. So, if we can only "play" on overseas sites, we should not pay taxes to IRS on any income we earn at the overseas online tables [grin] .... let us add that into the text and see what happens.

all of canada is a complete free loading joke.

Fail.

At least we can play online poker scrub. I think ill go deposit with my credit card now do you want to pla--? oh wait you cant! LOLOLOL

Yes, that would be intelligent. Imagine if it was legalized the sheer number of usa based poker websites that would spring up on their soil. It would be quite lucrative.... tons of fish.... mmmm tasty. I don't quite get why the US gov't hates money? They would be able to tax it and do whatever they want by simply allowing it, they would make billions of dollars every year... its just so utterly confusing to me.

The reasons for anti-gambling laws are the same as the reason for drug prohibition. Sure, taxes on marijuana sales alone could provide billions to the US government. But, for a lot of people, it's more important to legislate sin than to run a balanced economy.

They don't care if people aren't making enough money to make ends meet, as long as they aren't doing something in the privacy of their own homes that makes these puritans uncomfortable.

Really? Because its sinful? omg.... im not surprised I guess wowwowwow I always hated religion when I had to go to church and shiz when I was a little kid.... makes me hate it even more now... (havnt been back in like 10 years) I get sick just thinking about stepping foot in a church.

I truely hope north america evolves out of "sins" one day soon. Its just so primitive.

I would like to see online poker regulated here to the degree that casinos are regulated. A state gaming commission could certify and check up on online gaming sites so that we can all know that they are as secure as a casino in Vegas.

sure i can, im doing just fine depositing at pokerstars and getting my checks within 5 days. now you go deposit because you keep going broke.

I agree with you. The government is just being ridiculous. I try to be optimistic, but I just don't think this will ever change

Poker, with its roots in gambling, can cause a legitimate problem in some peoples' lives, and the government regulates to prevent that.

I disagree with their stance, but to link it straight to religion is a little oversimplifying.

wtf is that even supposed to mean?

****ing tool.

very nice post, always like reading up on the current status of the law agaist online pokering, cant belief u.s. will just not take their cut and be done with it, maybe obama will change it cause he likes to play poker lol

well if one person can generalize, why can't another? tool.

Oh you layed down in the wrong bed


Can a mod please delete this before I ring his ****ing neck??

EDIT: Or better stll leave it open...

it's ok April I will help if needed.

I dont get it? I can state an opinion about Canada and all hell breaks loose, but calling the American government a joke is ok? Anyone think maybe that offends me?

i'm from new york, but i'm so close to canada that i can see it from my front porch. i am actually french canadian. i just don't get why some americans and some canadians argue about who is better. it's baffling.

Wait, americans can't deposit?
I don't really keep up with american politics... as most of it is a joke

We can deposit; in fact, I did in January directly from my bank account into both Full Tilt Poker and Stars. It's just more difficult and because of UIGEA, we can't play at many sites like PartyPoker.

Calling a goverment a joke is a political opinion. Calling a country a joke is xenophobic.

I am from America and I think our government is a joke. Does that offend you too?

Well, I'm from Belgium and our government considers itself such a joke that our prime minister resigned yesterday. I'm not quite sure who should get offended by that one...

Maybe I should retract my statement. Because of the new FISA "compromise," the government is probably already in my interwebz and some nice men in black suits will be knocking on my door shortly.

Feel free to leave the country.

Isn't it kinda obvious that there's a difference between saying that "the US government is a joke" and "your whole country sucks?"

It seems pretty obvious to me.

it's the united states foriegn policy that is a joke and the primary reason for the situation we are in. our political system is a well rounded system of checks and balances laid out by the constitution.

Agreed. The political structure is top notch. (with the exception of the electoral college) The political state, on the other hand, is a shambles.

LOL

****ing douchebag everyone KNOWS the US gov't is a joke when it comes to online poker, which is what im referring to.

Canada sucks why? Oh thats right you didnt give a reason.

Go die in a car fire FGT.

I'm english so I hate the Scots, the Welsh, the irish, then the French the germans etc.

Bugger it I say, lets all go down the pub, get pissed and have a party.

im an american and i know our government is in shambles....the founding fathers never meant for this bullshit..so american government a joke...is quite the understatement

ANARCHY! ANARCHY!

Hello.

Anyone stepping over the line again in this thread gets an infraction.

If you are not sure where the line is, then don't post whatever you were going to post.

Love

Rex
(moddrator)

yes boss....now i dare you to knock this chip off my shoulder