The New UIGEA Regulations and what You can do to Fight Them

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If no one knows yet, the fed recently decided to enforce the UIGEA much more harshly including provisions forcing banks to take more accountability for the transactions coming in with penalties and audits if they think the bank is not doing enough. No you don't have to withdraw immediately, there is a specific provision in the bill that checks from the sites to you is safe. You are not in danger of losing the money already there.

What you are in danger from is the new regulations making it either extremely difficult or downright impossible to deposit. If this happens, even if you are a winning player who doesn't see the need to deposit, the biggest problem would be that other fish cannot deposit. As the worst players cannot deposit to play recreationally the marginal losers/break-even players will begin to become losers. As they can't deposit eventually it will only be the really solid good players playing poker. This is game over for poker as a profitable past time for the serious player. This doesn't take effect until January 19th, 2009 (the last day of the Bush administration) and banks cannot be punished for lack of enforcement until December 1st, 2009. But obviously the banks aren't going to wait until November 30th next year to put the regulations in place.

Following are the PPA press release and a PPA release on what you can do to fight it:


PPA Condemns Finalization of Internet Gaming Regulations
Calls on New Administration, Congress to Overturn Flawed Policy

WASHINGTON, DC. (November 12, 2008) –The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nation-wide, today expressed its extreme disappointment with the last minute finalization of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) regulations regarding online gambling.

“Today’s action finalizes a truly bad public policy – one that even the banks and Federal regulators called unworkable in Congressional testimony,” said PPA Chairman and Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato. “However, the PPA remains optimistic that the new Administration and the new Congress will recognize the failures of UIGEA and will act swiftly in the New Year to overturn this flawed policy.”

In April of this year, representatives from leading banks testified before Congress about the “burdensome” and “unworkable nature” of the proposed UIGEA regulations. Even the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve expressed serious concerns about the ability to enforce UIGEA and its impact on our nation’s payment systems. Notwithstanding the skepticism about the efficacy of the UIGEA and the burden it would place on our already strapped financial sector, the Administration, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve dedicated time and resources to get the rules finalized as the first of many Bush Administration “midnight” regulations.

Fortunately, several members of Congress, such as House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, Senator Robert Menendez and Congressman Robert Wexler among others, recognize the untenable nature of UIGEA and have sponsored legislation to truly address the concerns over online gaming.

“We have strong advocates in Congress who recognize the importance of balancing individual freedom and responsibility with the protection of consumers as it relates to online poker,” continued D’Amato. “As such, we believe that in the new political environment UIGEA will be overturned and effective licensing and regulation of online poker will be enacted.”

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The Bush administration has chosen to push through its incomplete Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) regulations via "lame duck" midnight rulemaking. Fortunately, no one is giving up. We have many avenues for success, and you can all be assured this is being fought at many levels. So, what can we poker players do?

Here are the four things we can all do right now:

1.) Write to President-elect Barack Obama

Barack Obama also has a new comment site, at Change.gov. I hope every single one of will post polite, professionally worded comments on this issue to him as well. Some points to consider sharing:

• The Bush administration's last minute, incomplete UIGEA regulations are reckless in that they place unreasonable requirements on our nation’s imperiled financial services industry. Bush was reckless in forcing them on the country in his 11th hour. You should introduce legislation to overturn them.
• These UIGEA regulations set a dangerous precedent for broader censorship of the Internet by the federal government.
• The Washington Post, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...111102935.html , reported that William Wichterman, a recent lobbyist for the National Football League who now works at the White House, played a controversial role in the Bush administration's last-minute effort to implement the UIGEA regulations. His lobbying firm made $2.8 million for these efforts.
• Banks should not be forced by the federal government to act as law enforcement entities.
• Poker is a game of skill where players compete against each other. There is no “house” profiting from losing players like in casino games of chance.
• You should support licensing and regulation of online poker. Congressman Robert Wexler, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Senator Robert Menendez, and others have sponsored bills that do just that. These bills provide protections for participants with excessive gaming habits. Bush's UIGEA regulations offer these people nothing.

2.) Write to the GOP

The GOP has a new comment site, at RNC: Republican For A Reason. I hope every single one of will post polite, professionally worded comments on this issue. Some points to consider sharing:

• Federal Internet censorship is not a limited government position, nor is the idea that Americans need the government to protect them from themselves.
• Banks should not be forced by the federal government to act as law enforcement entities.
• UIGEA is reckless in that it places unreasonable requirements on our nation’s imperiled financial services industry.
• Poker is a game of skill where players compete against each other. There is no “house” profiting from losing players as in casino games of chance.
• The GOP should support licensing and regulation of online poker. Bills currently in Congress provide protections for participants with excessive gaming habits. UIGEA offers these people nothing.
• The GOP has had an anti-online poker plank in its last three platforms (2000, 2004, and 2008). As a result, rightly or wrongly most Americans associate the party poker with UIGEA. This position likely costs the party poker far more votes than it gains. The GOP can no longer afford to give away votes

3.) Write to Congress

Go to the PPA autoletter site, at PPA: Action Center. In only 60 seconds, you can tell your congressman and both of your senators exactly what you think of UIGEA.

4.) Forward this to your friends

This isn’t just about poker. It’s about Internet freedom and freedom in general. Every American should care.

Wow that is horrable news.I have been trying to deposite on Ultimatebet for ever now.They still cannot validate my id.

sticky'd

Time to start boycotting the NFL too.

no one is boycotting the NFL i pretty sure

Well one thing's for sure, sitting back and waiting won't help. Read the article, do what you can for now. If we make our voice heard and can get the UIGEA enforcements on the list of Bush administration shit to repeal, we've got a good shot. If we can't, poker's going to be illegal for a while. Hopefully though the legislation can get through Congress asap but as most people know it takes forever for legislation to get through the process (plus Republicans can filibuster it), and even then it's not guaranteed. Make your voice heard please. Write your representatives along with Obama and the GOP as in the OP here. If you've got money to spare, feel free to donate it to the PPA who is directly lobbying Congress on our behalf.

So will this effect banks accepting checks from places like Pokerstars?....Or will it just mean that you cannot deposit from your bank account into a pokerstars account?

Its so rediculous we are in a financial crisis and here is a totally reasonable way of generating revenue by just making it legal for all sites and lightly taxing the transactions between players and poker websites or the poker websites themeselves. How the **** cant politicians see that.

yeah so will this affect checks from pokerstars?

This will NOT impact withdrawals. Any money you have online is safe. It's getting money from your bank to the poker sites that will be the problem if this passes and is not repealed.

Perhaps they should be? If you still want to support your team, that's understandable, so take a monster sign to the next game saying something along the lines of "leave online poker alone" and protect your rights !

I like how this is a topic for the government with all the other current concerns the nation faces!!

yep it's amazing how much these things can serve as a distraction. Funny how slowly but surely our liberties are slowly shrinking and government is slowly getting bigger. It's always with an excuse. War is always a good one but the last depression was another one. The government takes any excuse to get into our lives. You know what we fought the war with England over? They dared to put a tax into place just to raise revenue. Now some of us pay over 40% on a tax on our income that does just that. What part of your life is not free from government control? You can't surf the internet, you can't talk on a cell phone without the government easedropping in the name of anti-terrorism. I think the freedom to spend our own money on a game of skill over the internet is a huge deal. It's about the freedom to spend our own money and it's about regulating the internet. The concept of the government getting involved in this is extremely scary.

ok end of rant, even if you don't agree with any of that but feel that poker should be legal write to the people above. Make your voice heard.

ok done,, im even more pissed that there going to try to pass this the day before obama gets sworn in, talk about being sneaky, there a bunch of Rats IMO,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,buck
Can a Mod merge my thread i made yesterday about Bush with this one, dont know if it will help,but we need anything to help us players in the usa,,,,,,,,,, thank,,,,,,,buck

In the next few weeks, make sure you deposit money into PokerStars or another one of the big sites that is popular amongst non-Americans. Even if Americans will no longer be able to deposit, there will be plenty of non-Americans depositing in the future. Just make sure your bankroll doesn't fall to zero, at least not until Obama reverses this damn law (hopefully!).

There will always be ways to deposit. They can't ban personal money transfers. Things like Western Union, Moneygram, etc. will always be available. But you have to send them a request, they give you a temporary name in a foreign country, and you have to send to that name within 24 hours is usually how it goes. They can make up names faster than banks can figure out and block the old names. The problem is how many recreational fish will do this? If you are just depositing to have a good time and blow a little money for fun, are you going to send your cash to a strange guy in the Caribbean and jump through all those hoops to do it? Where do you think the money comes from in online poker? As the fish drop out of the US games will get tougher to the point where they are close to being unprofitable for all but the very best.

We need to be doing our best not only to reverse this recent ruling, but to also fight for the Skill Game Protection Act and other pro-poker legislation. This is our #1 concern now though, because it is most recent and easiest to overturn.

@Obama will save us. This is wrong. Obama and other Dems don't give a shit about us. They have much higher priorities than poker, and if you think he/they are going to save us you're just flat out dreaming. Now it is possible we can get them on our side, but that doesn't happen by dreaming and thinking Obama will make it all ok. The problem is that when Democrats are voting on poker, they know if they vote for it the Republican running against them in 2010 will use it against them. "they voted against saving our families and children from the evils of online gambling". We need to show them that those aren't the only people voting, that there are poker players who vote too and they are all watching. We also need to get non-poker players. It's an issue of regulating the internet. If they can regulate playing poker what's next? They know people will go against them if they vote for poker. We need to let them know there are people who will go against them if they vote against it too. So write your Congressmen and Senators, fill out the forms above for Obama and the GOP. As of now, Barney Frank is one of the only congressmen who care about us. He's doing what he can, but we need to do what we can as voters.

As a side note there are some high-stakes players who are getting together and may be hiring some lobbyists to help them out. If that materializes I will give more info as to how you can help with donations and such.

I just knew Bush couldn't go quietly without effing one more thing up. Sometimes this government can't see the forest for the trees. If they legalized and taxed marijuana and online gambling and stopped spending billions on a war we don't want they could clear up this financial mess in a few years. Sounds like 60's deja vu all over again. Peace Out

i still cant believe that this happened. I'll be writing a letter this weekend to send to the president-elect as well as some of the congressmen mentioned in this post.

Zach where are you keeping up with all this? im assuming the other forum but i havent seen anything in my brief glimpses on there.

Have never seen our government 'lightly tax' anything. Besides, the US governement has no authority over taxing offshore companies or corporations nor any compliance powers over them. Doubt they would ever willingly submit to any 'audits' of compliance either.

It would not surprise me to find that legal gambling operations in the US are heavily behind lobbying to get internet gambling squashed. With higher air fares and gas costs as well as the financial crisis overall, more gamblers are likely to visit the internet sites a lot more than the BnM/riverboat operations. Why lobby against internet gambling? Their gaming revenues are down, their hotel occupancy is down, their restaurants and other ancillary services suffer, etc.

I fear this fight is just beginning...........

The PPA (pokerplayersalliance.org) has all this info and methods to contact your Senators and Representatives, and also the Federal Reserve.

I can believe it, as many players have been complacent and not jumped into the fray, figuring others out there will take care of it. Further, gambling we've seen on TV has left much to be desired in behavior. When "in" that environment, it might appear humorous; but not when the rest of polite society is watching. Anyway, I certainly hope that the table games are approved and added to the Charles Town slot casinos, as this form of recreation appears to be fighting a losing battle. Unless more players (recreational included) get involved, that is certainly going to be the doom of gaming on the internet.

It takes more than a 'brief glimpse' to keep up. PPA is THE source for the most up-to-date info, but even the sites are getting pro-active. Here's an e-mail I received yesterday from Full Tilt. They even have it selectively addressed to recognize that I live in Nevada.

"Dear xxxxxx,

As you may be aware, the current Administration is seeking to finalize rules and regulations that will negatively impact on your ability to play internet poker.

In the U.S. Senate, Harry Reid of Nevada is in a strong position to stop the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) from being enacted. Inform him today that you want your rights preserved.
Please call Senator Reid at 1-866-SEN-REID (736-7343) and tell him:
I am a voter in Nevada and one of millions of Americans who enjoy playing Internet poker.

Please do everything you can to stop the current Administration from finalizing the UIGEA rules and regulations.

The White House is pressuring the Federal Reserve to finalize these rules, even though the Federal Reserve says that the UIGEA is bad for banks.
Please encourage the Federal Reserve to reject finalization of UIGEA until its impact on banks and consumers has been fully studied.

Ask your Senator to protect your personal freedoms by calling him TODAY.
If you're not already a member, please consider joining the Poker Players Alliance by visiting Poker Players Alliance » Home. Forward this link to your friends and fellow players in the poker community who may be interested.

Thank you for standing up for poker and your rights.

Sincerely,
Full Tilt Poker "

joemac696969 vbmenu_register("postmenu_984768", true);
Amateur Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Boston
Plays at: FULLTILT
Likes: Holdem
Posts: 74


Hey all just went to the PPA and sent their draft of a letter to my congressman and senator, rep. I suggest that everyone do the same. Just go

There is yet another approach to consider. In contacting representatives, or the Obama camp, point out that the Casinos within our borders are losing 10% of their revenues in today's economy. Yet the online poker sites, positioned off-shore, are growing/gaining lots of money. Recommend that online sites within our borders, at locations already lawful, be approved for activity on the internet under the UIGEA. Food for thought.

Point out that the rest of the world economies expect the US to resolve everyone's ills .... so, given that, let's "promote" internet gambling within our borders at lawful existing sites over the internet.

I've put forth my effort. I had received the email from the PPA because I'm on their mailing list, but I'm glad you made a post about this.

Zach, I seen the bill and when I noticed it was 121 pages I didnt really feel like going through it at the time. Thanks for summing it up. Question, what about sites that allow prepaid vouchers as a form of deposit? Would that be a way around what these regulations propose?.....Hopefully Obama and the democrats will turn this thing around or the bill will need to be sent back for revisions so it doesn't make the deadline but looks like the latter is unlikely.

I play on the microgaming network as of now so its alot of europeaners, very little Americans so the depositing doesnt affect the solid americans as much here but this is a problem regardless for all Americans regarding internet freedom just like Zach said. I'm still yet to try to transfer money over to a site like Fulltilt or Pokerstars and I damn sure don't want to be locked out of that because of something like this.

I agree with the previous posts, however, I don't think that it will be enforced by the banks, due to the difficulty in monitoring the traffic. The real problem will be what you see in Kentucky, where the state government will prohibit internet access to poker sites. Anyway you look at it, unless they do a 180° turnabout on this, online poker may be seeing its last days in the US. So if you want to keep it, stay involved.

This is actually the biggest thing that will go. Prepaid cards and such that people currently use are easy to track and thus would no longer be able to be used. The one thing that it seems the sites can always be one step ahead of is Western Union/Monegram-type transfers to individuals. I don't know if there are just a ton of people or they have fake IDs and such, but they can continue to get new names for transfers as fast as banks can ban transactions with those people. So unless the banks started banning overseas transactions (not gonna happen), that's safe. Prepaid cards and such will no longer work at all.



This is false. Actually the newest regulations actually affirm that unless there are additional laws (like in Kentucky), that PLAYING poker and WITHDRAWING winnings is legal. So they will not be able to block internet access and such. But the banks don't have an excuse for difficulty. It's law, and if they don't comply they can get in legal trouble. That's the difference. Before the law was there but they weren't really enforcing it. Now they are. If a bank fails to exercise "due diligence", they can be auditted and fined. Furthermore, the FBI/DOJ can do the enforcing, provide the banks with a list, and then the banks are banned from doing business with people on the list.

ANOTHER concern is that out of fear of getting in trouble, banks will over-regulate, and just ban anything overseas that looks like it could be associated with gambling. That's the biggest problem and it would be bad. Banks have a history of taking this path as well if you look at how they reacted to the Patriot Act and such. The one thing that is certain is that we can't just sit here and hope nothing bad happens.


As to where I'm getting this information, the poker legislation of 2+2 has a good amount of threads on it with a rep from the PPA posting there and answering questions. I pretty much spent 5+ hours last night reading every single post there, so I think I have a pretty good idea of what's going on.

I am fully planning on writing to all involvd to voice my opinion. This really should piss off any poker player that this crap is going on. This country has far greater problems to deal with and this was made a top priority. It has to be that the casionos have gotten deep in president Bush's pockets.

Geez man go away already

On another note won't this open another business of sorts for people online. I know CC does not advocate player transfers but wouldnt a silly law like this male sites like this to opn up to that idea.

Also I have made a few good friends on sites like Pokerstars people I really trust. Really nothing anyone can do to stop transfers between us.

The government needs to get their noses out of this. Resposible adults should be able to spend their money as they wish if it is the exact same thing I can go and do live it should be legal online.

Also anyone writing to Congress, especially Democrats, I would make sure to touch on the regulation of the internet part. They may not care about poker, but the Democrats in general seem to be agaisnt internet regulation.

Here is an article that puts a twist I have not yet heard from anyone else.

Oops. Did Congress accidentally legalize cyber gambling? | Lucky Numbers

I have been a member of the PPA since joing Cardschat and left several posts about this very matter. I have also written to both my congress-people AND to John Mcaine AND now Barack Obama as well. Thank you, Zach, for bringing this to our members attention---I too recieved an e-mailabout it! NOW!! We HAVE TO all stck together and follow Zachs advice and GET INVOLVED! I've even heard about some of our UK members getting involved along with Australia as well. BUT it' really up to ALL U.S. members to let YOUR Congress-people know just how you feel about our rights being taken away from us! Oh, I've also PHONED my local Senator and let him know IN PERSON just how I feel! Thanks again, Zach!

I'm writing letters to my representatives. But, after reading the legislation, I'm wondering if the Fed changes will really change anything.

What's to stop me from setting up a Paypal account in Mexico, taking money for a small fee, and then depositting the money into a poker site and transferring to your account? Are the banks going to shut down all 3rd party poker payment vendors? As long as there is a $12 billion dollar poker industry, there will be ways to deposit money. Yes you won't be able to use pre-paid credit cards, but I really don't think they can stop things like payment intermediaries that travel to a 3rd party poker institution and could go to ANY business or person.

For a 1% fee, i'll hop the border and make deposits into PokerStars from my Mexican bank account.

I sent my letters out. This is just disgusting! I'm absolutely sick of Big Brother watching me and telling me what I can and can't do with MY money that I earn! I know that they would like to see their greedy little paws get some tax dollars out of it, but for what? To screw it up even more than they already have? This is ridiculous!