A Newsweek Journalist Opposed the UIGEA
The implementation of regulations regarding the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act (UIGEA) starting in less than a week, news magazines the most popular of the United States has announced to be in opposition to the legislation.
Despite numerous protests from the financial sector and groups of civil liberties, UIGEA prohibits banks and other financial institutions in the United States to accept or process payments or to sites of gambling online from 1 December.
An article in Newsweek
In a long article entitled High Stakes for Online Gamblers published in Newsweek, the logs Jeremy Herb opposed the 2006 legislation, citing the lack of precision in the legislation and the difficulty he will have to run it.
“The problem is that with UIGEA legislation raises more questions than it solves,” says Herb.
A lack of definitions
“The law does not prohibit people from gambling online since it focuses on transactions of banks. But it did not define what constitutes” gambling online illegal ‘. The Treasury and the Federal Reserve of U.S. banks that teach how to apply the law, have not defined gambling online illegal. “
Herb continues by explaining the history of the UIGEA and teaches readers the conflict between industry and the Wire Act, a law older who has often been used to prosecute the operators of gambling online legal.
The Wire Act of 1960
“The Department of Justice considers that any gambling online is illegal, based on the 1960 Wire Act, which was created to prevent bookmakers use the telephones, a law which has existed long before the The Internet as we know it, “says Herb.
“The industry of gambling attack this by arguing that the Wire Act applies only paris sports, not games such as poker or roulette. In 2002, the Fifth Circuit Court decided that the Wire Act applied only to paris sports, but this has not changed the opinion of the Department of Justice. Several executives of online casinos and caterers Payments ‘e-wallet’ have been arrested in some recent years. In June, the Department of Justice has blocked $ 33 million in payments for four online casino American players. “
In conclusion
Concluding his article, Herb believes that the industry has reason to be optimized and said it is unlikely that gaming online entirely disappear ‘if the UIGEA regulations are applied and enforced.
“There are ways for U.S. players to circumvent the regulations of banks, for example by providing a bank account abroad,” says Herb.
