Regulations Allegedly Released Soon
The U.S. regulations that accompany the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement
Act are so long overdue that most in the online casino and internet gambling
industry have lost hope that the government will every really release them.
According to the UIGEA, the U.S Treasury and the Attorney General’s Office had
270 days from the Act’s passage to release the officially regulations. And
considering the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted online casinos that
violated the UIGEA, companies are now demanding that the Courts either negate
the Act until the regulations are finished, or find some way to protect the
internet gambling companies.
iMEGA launched a prominent court case against the U.S. government that began in
court in late September. iMEGA alleges that the UIGEA is inappropriate without
the accompanying regulations, and that the online casinos and betting sites that
are members of iMEGA ought to be exempt from the Act until the regulations are
in place. The case is highly controversial because the online casino gambling
ban is an international issue that has caused court issues not only within the
United States, but also through the World Trade Organisation. The WTO ruled that
the UIGEA violates international trade agreements, and if the iMEGA case rules
in favor of the online casino companies, UIEA could lose its “teeth,” or more
pointedly its enforceability.
And though iMEGA is using the lack of regulations as a point in their favor, a
reason that the courts should put a restraining order on the offshore online
casino ban, the government’s lawyers argue the government cannot restrain the
Act without the regulations fully finalized. To this end, the government’s
lawyers then contended that the regulations were near completion. Whether this
is the case or not could have a substantial effect on the future of the U.S.
online casino industry.
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