A Recap on the Ruling of the US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals

Many people are really questioning the benefits that we would get from the ruling of the US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals when they decided to support the UIGEA or the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, especially since there seems to be a lot of gray areas on what it really encompasses.

DOJ and IMEGA

The online gambling industry knows exactly what will happen on the 1st of December 2009.  This is the date set for the UIGEA to be completely and fully enacted, and it seems that there is no stopping it.  But still, there are a lot of gray areas left on the legality of online poker.

The Department of Justice says that online poker is illegal, based upon the existing federal laws, but as long as there are confusions regarding the UIGEA and online poker, the state laws will not be honored by banks and credit card companies, and they will continue to block the deposits made by US players into an online poker site.

Because of this, the efforts of IMEGA or the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association could be seen as futile, but if you look at it closely, all their efforts were not really wasted.  Had it been a complete failure, the court would have established a precedent that would have done damage to online poker.  In fact, the ruling in favor of UIGEA did not really make the matters much worse than it already is.

Clearing Up Some Details

One mistake that many assumed about the UIGEA is that this Act illegalizes online poker, but in truth, it only bans financial institutions like banks and credit card companies, from allowing player from the United States to deposit money into their accounts in online poker sites, but people from the government as well as from the media reiterates that this does not make online poker illegal, only the act of depositing money through financial institutions makes it illegal in federal laws.  As to online poker being illegal, the court reiterates that it depends upon the state laws and whether or not the transaction of betting is considered unlawful.

Although this is not what the IMEGA was aiming for since it creates the gray area and causes financial institutions to block the transactions between players and online poker sites, there is still hope.  The way the IMEGA looks at it is that the ruling establishes and asserts the rights of the states to regulate online gambling that occurs within its borders.

Now, the IMEGA is focusing on talking to states about the possibility of regulating online poker by developing an intrastate system.  They want to open the discussion about i-gaming and how it could help increase the revenues and bridge the gap of the states' budgetary shortfalls.

TagsCircuit Court of Appeals, DOJ, gambling, illegal, online poker, poker, UIGEA

See also

• Legalizing Online Poker in California — A Bad Bet or Not?
  California, as we all know, is one of the states hit hardest by the recession, that the state is now having problems looking for a new source of income to augment its loss.  One potential source of new revenue can come in the form of online poker, but the question is, is it going to [...]
• WTO and Repeal of the AIGEA Will Bring Pressure to Rid This Prohibition
  Europe is considering bringing a claim under the WTO against the USA for hurting their online casinos.   The AIGEA passage forced many online casinos to prohibit US players from playing on their sites.  Europe has long threatened to do something about this economic threat to their online casinos.  There is strong sentiment that now is [...]