The Online Poker Pro

Aficionados of  online casino gambling in general and online poker in particular will now have to wait until June 1, 2010, to see their fate in the United States. December 1, 2009, was supposed to be the deadline for implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), a mangled mix of regulations that put the onus on U.S. financial institutions to enforce who can and cannot gamble online in the United States. This regulation doesn’t affect non-paid Internet gambling, such as free blackjack, bingo or poker that just pay out play chips, but it’s literally do or die for gambling sites that deal in U.S. dollars.

It’s not surprising that the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Department of the Treasury jointly announced the six-month delay, because financial institutions were in an uproar over how to implement it. The UIGEA, which was hastily tacked onto the Safe Port Act in the last session of Congress in 2006, forces financial institutions to block unlawful Internet gambling transactions. Yet the bill did little to define what would be considered unlawful. The result was that in the absence of clear guidelines, financial institutions would have no choice but to block their customers’ transactions with online gambling sites, including wagers placed on horse racing and the purchase of state lottery tickets.

Proponents of UIGEA modification now have until June 1, 2010, to convince Congress that not only is the bill unfair, but that it also blocks a huge source of tax revenue at a time when the country could really use it.  As John Pappas, the executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), an advocacy organization with a major stake in the outcome of this fight, says,  “In these trying economic times, we’re the only industry that’s coming forward and saying, ‘Here’s a pile of money!’”

The six-month delay came about because of a petition filed by the PPA, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the American Greyhound Track Operators Association, which would all face similar problems if the UIGEA were implemented as is. But the PPA and many others realize that altering the UIGEA won’t provide strong enough regulation for the online gambling industry. That’s why they also stand firmly behind Representative Barney Frank’s H.R. 2267 and Senator Robert Menendez’s S. 1597, which would provide protection for underage and compulsive gamblers.

You can be sure that all stakeholders will be busy for the next six months trying to convince any lawmakers not already on-board that online gambling is not a crime and that it’s time for realistic legislation that benefits everyone involved.