New Internet Gambling Laws for US

U.S. financial service firms would face a selection of regulatory burdens to avoid the processing of banned internet gambling transactions under the planned rules to put into practice UIGEA of 2006 according to a new analysis. According to the recommendation "Proposed Internet Gambling Regulation Would Require New Policies and Procedures for the U.S. Payment Systems," by the national law company Alston & Bird, U.S. inhabitants would be able to evade the proposed gambling laws and carry on gambling online by processing gambling transactions through a foreign bank account in a jurisdiction where Internet gambling is officially authorized.

The confrontation U.S. financial institutions face is that application of UIGEA will be very complicated and troublesome. "The gambling laws proposed create a first-time and unmanageable regulatory burden on the U.S. financial services sector," declared Jeffrey Sandman, representative of the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. "U.S. financial service firms are being left to interpret vague State and Federal gambling laws, which do not without a doubt make a distinction between legal and illegal Internet gambling activities or transactions, and then put into practice difficult and expensive solutions to achieve compliance."

The recommendation presents a synopsis of the proposed gambling laws and presents concerns about regulatory burden due to the impact of enforcing costs on US -based payment service firms and ability for U.S. resident to be able to still gamble online after adoption of the rules. U.S. financial institutions with concerns about probable burdens and compliance coverage are encouraged to present remarks on the draft rules published on or before December 12, 2007.

Legislation to control and tax Internet gambling would endow with a rational and safe approach to permit US citizens to gamble online. "Rather than misuse important assets attempting to implement UIGEA, a defective gambling law that inaccurately assumes prohibition will keep millions of US citizens from internet gambling, the U.S. should as an alternative regulate and tax Internet gambling," added Sandman.

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and Jim McDermott (D-WA) initiated the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act and Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act, companion pieces of legislation, to control and tax internet gambling activity. The legislation would entail accredited Internet gambling operators to establish safeguards to guard against underage and compulsive gambling and guarantee the reliability of gambling transactions. Taxation of Internet gambling is anticipated to breed between $6 billion and $25 billion in returns for the U.S. Treasury in the first five years of endorsement.