Anti-gambling groups are happy the UIGEA implementation will take effect June 1st, but legislation rendering the online casino ban moot is making slow progress and may give Internet gambling operators the last laugh.

The battle over implementation of the UIGEA will end tomorrow as compliance to the controversial law becomes required of financial institutions, but the war over regulation of online casinos continues. Even though payments and deposits at online gambling sites become more difficult for operators, lawmakers such as Barney Frank continue down a slow road which may hopefully lead to greater feedom for US residents, including the right to choose entertainment like Internet gambling.

The UIGEA becomes effective after a six-month delay imposed by the Treasury after several bipartisan appeals, including a letter from the entire Kentucky legislative delegation, to suspend the problematic law until legislative review could correct the difficulties inherent in the measure. But Senator Jon Kyl, a powerful figure obsessed with preventing Internet gaming, maliciously blocked needed Treasury confirmations to secure an agreement that the UIGEA would not sufer another delay.

Frank has introduced a bill to regulate online gambling, and effectively repeal the UIGEA. However, the financial crisis has occupied his Financial Services Committee, placing the review of the online casino bill on the backburner.

Frank even had a companion bill designed to provide a year suspension of the UIGEA to allow time for the legislative process to examine the regulatory measure, but, ironically, the bill delaying implementation has not yet been heard.

However, growing forces on both sides of the political aisle are demanding regulation for online gambling rather than supporting the ban attempt. Republicans whose support for the UIGEA has been assumed by Kyl and other anti-gaming types have been reviewing the concept in a new light, as Tea Party groups cry for less government interference and more respect for liberty.

Even though implementation of the UIGEA means the measure will become more entrenched, the slow progression of legislation by Frank, as well as by Representative Jim McDermott and including the Gregg-Wyden tax reform act, may indicate that losing the battle hardly means losing the war.

Published on May 31, 2010 by JoshuaMcCarthy

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