Will Economic Growth Force Out the UIGEA?

February 09, 2011 | News Category: Gaming Law

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There are those who have worked long and hard, first to prevent the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) from being adopted, and then after it had been adopted as law, they have worked very hard to have the UIGEA removed.

In this difficult economic climate, the government of the United States of America has brought about an initiative in which the government plans to move against laws that are preventing the economy from growing as it could. This decision, if the cards are played correctly, could mean the end of the UIGEA, or perhaps some radical changes to the UIGEA in order to help the economy to thrive.

At this time, the UIGEA is a law that inhibits economic growth, by effectively banning online gambling in the United States. The UIGEA does not outright ban online gambling, but it makes it illegal for banks and other financial institutions to process online gambling transactions.

The Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Darrel Issa, has asked businessmen and others to put forward their suggestions regarding the US laws that are not helping job creation and economic growth, and are in fact hampering growth and job creation.

At least one organization, the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative has been in touch with the House Oversight Committee, and has cited the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act as one of the main examples of laws that are hampering economic growth and also hampering job creation. The primary reason that the UIGEA is considered a hampering law is that the online financial transactions between financial institutions, and online gambling operations are constantly disrupted.

The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative pointed out that should the UIGEA be scrapped, and online gambling be legalized and regulated, not only would this create valuable taxation income, and income from licensing fees, but it would also create large amounts of jobs in the industry.

Michael Waxman, the Executive Director of the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, noted the following: "As you gather input on the various government regulations that have negatively impacted job growth, we would like to draw your attention to the opportunity to generate tens of thousands of new jobs and tens of billions in domestic gross expenditures should the federal government replace a failed attempt to prohibit Internet gambling with a system to legitimize the thriving activity."

As before, it is now somewhat of a waiting game, so see what kind of response will come out of the federal government regarding the UIGEA. Perhaps Barney Frank's bill was unable to legalize online gambling in the US, and perhaps this initiative to act against those laws that hamper the US's economic growth will help to legalize online gambling. Although there are no guarantees either way, if online gambling is legalized and regulated in the US, the online gambling community will be very pleased.