Calling for Internet Freedoms
The United States’ online casino gambling industry gets another advocate this
week as Jared Polis, a US Represenatitve for Colorado published a piece in the
Roll Call this week that outlines the benefits of new US regulations and the
inherent freedoms that the internet implies. Polis is in the unique position of
supporting the online casinos and internet gambling sites through an inadvertent
support for Internet freedoms. Freedom of the Internet is Polis’ main platform
issue and he argues that the UIGEA does not allow American’s some of their basic
rights to free access to the Internet. The UIGEA prevents the processing of
payments between internet gambling companies and US players, and this is
effectively curbing all of the possible options for US gamblers to fund their
accounts with offshore gambling sites.
Polis’ piece in the Roll Call really outlines a valid and reasoned argument for
regulating the online casino gambling industry in the United States rather than
the currently ineffective ban. His key argument against the UIGEA is the fact
that the US has “no meaningful enforcement mechanism against offshore operators”
and the restrictions are allowing sub-par online casinos access to US players.
As a Congressional advocate for freedoms within the Internet, Polis believes
that the US needs to protect US consumers through effective licensing
regulations – but that it is wrong to block US gamblers from enjoying what the
internet has to offer.
The unscrupulous online casinos that are operating in the US market would surely
be pushed out once licensed and legal sites were in operation because US
consumers would, by and large, prefer to do business with reputable companies.
Which means that the US could effectively control the vast majority of a
licensed gambling industry. |