U.S. delays internet gambling crackdown
Internet gambling, long a poster child for shady dealings on the World Wide Web, has gotten a reprieve from the U.S. government, which has delayed a planned ban for six months.
Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and intended it to take effect just a few days from now, on December 1. Enforcement of the law is now due to begin on June 1, 2010, or perhaps not at all. The act, when it finally takes effect, will ban US banks, credit card companies, and financial companies from handling unlawful Internet gambling bets. Originally passed in 2006 under then-president George W. Bush by the then-Republican-controlled US Congress, the act has faced a great deal of criticism from financial institutions and others, all of whom say that it would be an enforcement nightmare.
The law prohibits financial institutions from knowingly accepting payments for online gambling made through credit cards, electronic funds transfers, and checks, according to an AFP story. It was originally targeted at putting teeth into a de facto (but largely unenforced) ban against US residents placing online wagers in locations such as Britain, Canada, Antigua and Gibraltar. The Act against Internet gambling has been challenged as an unfair trade restriction at the World Trade Organization and US congressman Barney Frank is seeking to overturn the 2006 act with legislation that would allow online gambling.
Frank is of the opinion that the law was misguided. He says that US Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Board “deserve a great deal of credit for suspending these midnight regulations promulgated by the Bush administration which would curtail the freedom of Americans to use the Internet as they choose and which would pose unrealistic burdens on the entire financial community. This will give us a chance to act in an unhurried manner on my legislation to undo this regulatory excess by the Bush administration and to undo this ill-advised law.”
The World Wide Web has always been a bit of a laissez faire sort of open community, and it is clear that Frank is intent on keeping it that way. It is unlikely that all of the claims of internet casinos who say their games are fair and open are anywhere near credible. On the other hand, intelligent people should be able to work that out on their own. The problem should be self-solving: people that gamble against a house they can’t even see will quickly be unable to afford their internet connection fees.
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