U.S. based lawmakers are looking at passed bills that allow online gambling to be regulated. They hope to pass one of these to replace the loosely worded UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). A UIGEA was passed in 2006 and was signed by President Bush. It was a Republican self-goal; they wanted to protect the U.S. gambling industry from “payouts” to Irish Sweepstakes that were being sent to America via the internet.
The purpose of the UIGEA was to block transactions from going to certain online gambling sites, specifically to stop money from going to Ireland. This was accomplished by making it illegal for poker and other gambling websites to use Visa and Mastercard, which is why thousands of customers of these types of sites would no longer be able to play at those sites.
The provision in the UIGEA that was passed states that any and all funds transfer by a financial institution electronically shall be subject to the scrutiny of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which was created by the George W. Bush administration. The provision also banned American financial institutions from participating in any internet transaction that included internet gambling.
Three years after the passing of the UIGEA, President Barack Obama is trying to execute his campaign promises fairly with some legislation known as the UIGEA Honest Online GamblingINA. This act was meant to ensure that online gambling would be regulated in a fair way. According to White House sources, this bill was George W. Bush’s attempt to show that he was acting in a trustworthy conservative way.
UIGEA failing, supporters of gaming in America are preparing another low-risk tactic in the form of a partisan politics and fundraising bill known as the American Gaming Association Act. According to USA Today, this act “wouldn’t solve the problem” of gambling addicted citizens spending too much money on gambling, but it would instead “Vodka138 online gambling.”
The Atlantic Wire reports that while Americans are still spending plenty of cash on gambling, recent Studies show that the percentage of Americans who gamble has been largely reduced to less than 20%, as opposed to over 50% in the early 1980s.
The lack of control over American citizens playing online gambling or with casino games in entertainment slots is frightening all economic sectors, including politicians, sociologists, and experts on the birth of compulsive gambling.
The ccessouthrement league of New York told the public that many people are turning to gambling because of “has just a little bit of money in their pocket,” and not because of an addiction to gambling. They continued by saying that most people begin gambling to have fun, and not to make a mountain of debt.
The Atlantic Wire adds that despite the government’s best attempts to sternwit the issue, most citizens arenutsober when it comes to online gambling–and that includes the executives of Neteller, the world’s largest payment processor who were famously caught by the US Government taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from poker players.
According to People magazine, “What’s wrong with online gambling? The majority of Americans simply don’t have the money to make the types of bets online gamblers do, and worse, face the risk of having their money stolen by online dealers. These facts are exactly why Sen. Barney Frank is trying to have the UIGEA re-written in a way that will supposedly regulate online gambling and prevent such theft, while at the same time taking away U.S. gambling tax revenues. Let me assure you that any such re-Writing of the UIGEA will be toothless and do nothing to control gambling addiction more than help people addicted to gambling to get help and a solution.
