Is the US Online Casino Ban Illegal?

February 07, 2009 | News Category: Gaming Law

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Trend Micro, an Internet security company, as part of their package deal, offer a filter to block online casinos and poker rooms. It seems that they may have found a way to make the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) defunct. Many feel that Trend Micro's product makes the UIGEA more dysfunctional and unnecessary than it is at present.

The computer program is one which allows parents to prevent and protect their children from logging into unsafe websites, including online casino sites and poker rooms. As a result, this should prevent children from accessing these sites, playing illegally, and getting into financial difficulties. There is some thought that by supplying this filtering product to their customers, Trend Micro may make it illegal to ban the online gambling sites.

When lobbying to ban the online gambling sites, the main reason given by the politicians and evangelists who were opposed to Internet gambling was that they wanted to keep children protected from any exposure to online casinos.

Seeing as land-based gambling is allowed in the United States, it is clear that gambling in and of itself is not illegal for consenting adults. Trend Micro's product enables households to block children from casinos, while allowing adults to make their own decisions and continue to gamble online should they so wish. The product's screening package allows for blocking of online casinos and poker rooms, whether they have been stumbled upon by accident, or on purpose.

Not only can Trend Micro's Internet Security Parental Control Package block online casinos, but this function is available as a standard part of their all in one security package. Their security package also has components that protect computers from viruses, adware, malware and spyware. Parents can set up the block to block websites which are grouped together under pre-set categories, or may choose to only block online gambling websites. The ability to block these sites can also be used to help take away temptation from problem gamblers.

A spokesperson from Trend Micro states "Trend Micro enjoys the credit of being the only company which offers this Internet Security Software that provides end-to-end, detailed and intuitive advanced parental control."

iMega, the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association, have been in the forefront of challenging the UIGEA ban. iMEGA's website states that they were founded to "foster cooperation between the online industry and government at all levels, and to promote innovation, openness and freedom on the Internet."

Ed Leyden, iMEGA's general counsel, stated that statutes are meant to "be constructed in the narrowest way, to observe the rule of lenity." This means that if there is a less intrusive way to protect children from entering online poker rooms and casino websites, then as a first step, the less intrusive method should be utilized and an outright ban should be avoided. Trend Micro has developed this less intrusive method. Parents should make use of tools such as this one when they are available.