We are just over two weeks away from the UIGEA, also known as the Online Gambling Ban, from coming into full effect. The Act passed in 2006 states that all financial institutions have until December 1st to comply with the new regulations. The new regulations are simply this: no more transactions to online gambling sites.
But wait, because it’s not as black and white as that. The UIGEA which was a last minute appendix added to the Safe Port Act, states that transactions (purchases) can be done at Lottery sites, horse racing betting sites and fantasy sports; while the rest such as poker, casinos, sports books are now considered illegitimate. Why make such a distinction? Well that’s the hotly debated subject among some politicians. It would be smarter, some argue, to regulate and tax the online gaming industry rather than trying to abolish it. A good point when you consider that Americans continue to gamble billions of dollars every year and they all go to offshore companies.
The question now is what’s going to happen to all the current online casinos, poker sites and sport books that offer their services to US players? The UIGEA cannot interfere with these companies since they are outside the US. What it will try to do is punish those financial institutions that are processing deposits and withdrawals from and to these ‘illegitimate’ gambling sites. Huge corporations like Visa and Mastercard must provide extra filters to stop their services from being used for gambling online. In a time of financial crisis such a burden seems not only superfluous but also detrimental.
Will this be the last year that US players will be playing at
online casinos and poker tournaments and betting on their favorite sporting events? The answer is very likely in the negative. If such an end would come, it would first of all be a slow death. But considering the US market represents around $100 Billion in bets annually the gambling industry is sure to rise from its ashes like a Phoenix as it finds loopholes in the law or complies with the likely event that it will be regulated in the future and taxed like any other business.
The UIGEA’s deadline might be like one huge dark cloud quickly approaching us and most US players and gambling sites are expecting it to rain on all the fun. But it may turn out to be just a passing cloud and no more. The future can still be a bright one for the gambling industry as it will be a hard task for the government to recognize amongst the trillion transactions daily from credit cards those few purchases that are done at betting websites.
Let’s wait for December 1st to hit and then it’ll all be history.
Sobre el autor:
Trabajandor como escritor para Superior Casino.
