Details of the Delay
Fantastic news for the US online casino gambling industry comes in the way of a
six money postponement of UIGEA regulations that were scheduled to take effect
this month. The internet gambling proponents fought these regulations right down
to the wire, and it was actually a surprise that the US Treasury and Federal
Reserve announced that the regulations were on hold for a full six months. The
key factor for the delay was the fact that many US financial institutions were
not prepared for enforcement as of December 1, 2009. There is already a huge
concern in the industry that the financial institutions will not be able to
handle the enforcement regulations for online casinos even with enough prep
time, let alone such an immediate enforcement date.
The banks and US financial institutions are outright confused when it comes to
the UIGEA; they just don’t know which online casinos and gambling related sites
fall into the “illegal internet gambling” category and which sites instead have
carve-outs and are legal. The UIGEA is unclear and unspecific and the US
Treasury and Federal Reserve will specifically work on clarifying the
enforcement regulations and laying out a clearer plan for blocking offshore
online casino sites than what is currently provided for in the UIGEA
regulations.
And on the up side, while the Treasury is working on these adjustments to the
UIGEA, Barney Frank and other pro- online casino gambling industry politicians
have been given six more months to push alternative legislation through
Congress. Although it has taken an incredibly long time for the alternative
legislation to even be considered by Congress, Frank’s proposal and pro-internet
gambling policies are actually making their way into Congressional discussions
and there is very real hope that new legislation will pass in the next year. |