Last efforts of the US administration to enforce the adverse UIGEA

Currently acting USA government that spoiled the life to the whole world cannot help spoiling the life of their own country at farewell. The Bush Administration is working to finalize regulations to enforce a ban on Internet gambling contrary to the banks’ perceiving these regulations as ambiguous, burdensome and unlikely to stop Americans from gambling online. The forthcoming administration of the new President-elect will likely be unable to review the regulations to implement the UIGEA of 2006 which are expected to come into effect soon.

"This midnight rulemaking will tie the hands of the new Administration, burden the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis, and contradict the stated intent of the Financial Services Committee," noted House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) in his letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake.

The proposed regulations to enforce UIGEA will leave banks to interpret state and Federal gambling laws, which do not make clear the difference between legal and illegal Internet gambling activities. Banks will face a challenge in trying to comply with UIGEA in testimony before Congress in April which was acknowledged by the representatives of the Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve. The real situation is that major part of payment systems are not designed to comply with this law, "it will be very difficult to shut off payment systems for use of Internet gambling transactions," said Louise Roseman, Director, Division of Federal Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems.

Both bankers and online gambling advocates find the UIGEA along with the proposed rules irrational, unclear and burdensome. They are calling upon the Congress to regulate Internet gambling in order to protect consumers while gaining high incomes that flow away to offshore Internet gambling operators.