UIGEA
This article is designed to inform everyone who is interested in Internet gambling about what the UIGEA really is and how it affects you, the player. This page is always a work in progress and will be updated with new information as it becomes available.
Last Updated 6/30/2008.
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The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or UIGEA, was attached to a Port Security Bill on the last day of the 2006 Senate session. Specifically, the UIGEA is designed to "prohibit wire transfers to Internet gambling sites or the banks which represent such sites." This places the burden of the law not on the player, but on the banks and credit institutions that transfer a player's funds to the gambling site. There are no sections of the bill that include penalties, jail time or fines, for people using their computers and the Internet to gamble.
While the UIGEA has been signed into law by President Bush, it did not pass with regulations. The regulations were to be designed and implemented after the passing, but the deadline has been missed and extended repeatedly. A law without regulations is a law with no real or long-term power, except to scare some publicly traded companies from offering their services inside the U.S.
From the passing of the UIGEA in late 2006 to today, the Representative who has been doing the most to see this law overturned has been Barney Frank (D-MA). There are several Representatives, such as James McDermott (D-WA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) who understand this issue and believe in an American's right to spend his or her money in the manner of their choosing, but Rep. Frank has been at the forefront of this issue for quite a while. A recent attempt by Rep. Frank, H.R. 5767, to limit any regulations put in place in the future was defeated in the House Financial Services Committee by a tie vote.
But there are other House Resolutions being talked about which may pave the way for the future of online gambling. H.R. 2046, Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007, is a bill put together by Barney Frank, and H.R. 5523, Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2008, by James McDermott. For the time being, these are the bills to pay attention to.
When an OnlineGamblingPress.com post states that Online Casinos, Poker Rooms, and Sportsbooks accept Limited U.S. gamblers it means that they accept all U.S. gamblers with the following state exceptions: Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, New Jersey, New York, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin.
