After One Month, What Are The Effects OF UIGEA?
Well folks, it’s a done deal. After several delays and a final campaign to reverse it, UIGEA (the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) went into full effect on June 1st, 2010. What, if any, are the effects it’s had on the Internet gambling scene in the United States?
John Pappas, executive director for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), stated: “I think we’ve seen very little impact on the ability of Americans to play poker on the Internet…For many Internet poker sites and players, the ill effects of the UIGEA were felt several months ago if not several years. Most sites migrated to other responsible payment systems and the players migrated to that as well”.
Many companies pulled out of the American market before UIGEA went into effect to avoid any possible legal problems. And several prosecutions of company executives, such as PartyGaming and Sportingbet, had already taken place before UIGEA went into effect.
Also, some prepaid and reloadable gift cards are now being rejected, where before they weren’t. Some credit cards are also now declined for the first times.
Glen Farmer, of USAPlayers.com, states that many online sites have raised their minimum deposit requirements. He says that this tactic affects the low stakes players, those who play for mostly entertainment, and not for the sake of gambling.
Online casino and internet poker sites are reporting very few problems, and none since June 10th.
There are some rather unexpected problems arising from the enactment of UIGEA.
While online horse racing betting was exempted from the effects of UIGEA, some banks and payment processing centers, are rejecting some of the horse race betting.
So while the major problems feared by many have not materialized, there are problems surfacing with UIGEA. Most of them are caused by the ambiguity of the way the law is written, while others point to the problems of having banks and other financial firms forced to enforce the law.
Related posts:
- Barney Frank expected to introduce a bill in the House next month to repeal the UIGEA
- EFFECTS OF INTERNET GAMBLING BILL FUELS EXODUS
- UIGEA Set To Go Into Effect Tuesday
- UIGEA Law Takes Effect June 1st: What it Means to Online Poker and Casino Deposits
- PPA Again Petitions To Have Poker Exempted From UIGEA
July 12th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
I think the uigea is a bunch of hogwash in the first place. Let’s make a bill that’s suppose to ban all transactions with internet gambling, except with horserace betting. And, online horse betting is being turned down too?
I was wondering why this uigea bill was passed, but now I have an idea how they expect US banks to block some certain online transactions; it’s probably because the same people who passed the uigea bill, helped bail out the banks in the first place. What a corrupt society this is.
July 13th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
To be honest it hasn’t effected me at all. I still play and send and receive money, I’m sure I will always be able to, they cut off one source, no way they can cut them all off.
July 14th, 2010 at 4:58 am
UIGEA is just complete BS if you ask me. They passed it because there was some money being put into the congressman’s pockets if you ask me. As for it affecting me, I haven’t been able to really tell. I can still play and receive money also, just can’t play at some of my favorite places anymore.