Monday, June 23, 2008
Abercrombie and Lynch aboard to sink UIGEA
America’s online casino gamers were surely cheered by the news of a little recent legislative action on House Resolution 5767. The resolution calls for a moratorium on enforcement or further implementation of the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006; this bill essentially makes transferring funds from financial institutions to gambling websites illegal, though money can be wagered by US citizens on fantasy sports (a nice adaptation taken on by sportsbooks in light of the act), lottery games and horse racing.
Representatives
Neil Abercrombie (D.-Hawai’i) and
Stephen Lynch (D.-Massachusetts) joined current sponsors Barney Frank (D.-Massachusetts) and Ron Paul (R.-Texas) in co-sponsoring the bill. House Resolution 5767 now carries 20 sponsors as it enters the “markup process.”
(For those of you interested in the sausage-making methods of Congress, check out
Wikipedia’s excellent definition of the process. For the rest of us – the greater majority, LCD suspects –
the classics will have to do. Caution: Clicking on link may cause unpredictable flashbacks.)
Interestingly enough, the equestrian bunch, having been granted an explicit exemption in UIGEA thanks to its lobbying forces, is now also rallying against the bill. As
Poker Players Alliance board member
Rich Muny puts it:
Many banks and credit card companies will simply block all online gaming transactions to ensure compliance with the 2006 act. And the horse racing exemption requires that financial transactions fully comply with every detail of the Interstate Horse Racing Act to be exempt -- a determination financial institutions are probably neither equipped nor inclined to make. And, the biggest concern for blocking of these transactions is the Justice Department's position that all interstate horse race wagering violates the Wire Act (particularly as the Justice Department has shown no reluctance in arresting suspected Wire Act violators).
As the old saw goes, the wheels of change grind slowly. Surely, however, UIGEA’s days are numbered and sometime within the next presidential administration, the gaming-prohibitive bit of the Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006 should be reworked.
You can bet on it; Abercrombie and Lynch are.