ONLINE GAMBLING NEWS: iMEGA/ UIGEA has a hearing scheduled for September 4, 2007

As we all wait patiently to see the outcome of iMEGA’s hearing they are going strong.

In the state of New Jersey a Federal Judge assigned a hearing date for the lawsuit against US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales. The lawsuit seeks to have a new online gambling law, as well as the UIGEA overturned. Judge Mary L. Cooper will hear the case.

The target of the iMEGA is to ask the court to declare the UIGEA unconstitutional and unenforceable. The group says t he act violates the First Amendment rights, which is “freedom of speech” and “commercial association” as well as the Tenth Amendment’s protections of states’ rights to regulate online gambling in the US.

Edward Leyden the president of IMEGA made the statement “We think the law infringes on the First Amendment and the Tenth Amendment rights of our members” “And we also believe the government has exceeded its authority in its WTO dispute with Antiqua and that too has harmed our clients.”

iMEGA founder, Joe Brennan Jr. said “The UIGEA can still be enforced prior to the hearing scheduled for September 4th,” “But we feel confident that the Judge will prevent that from happening.”

“The Judge will have to wade through all the rules and regulations in addition to reviewing our (iMega) complaint.”

As we are told: The honorable Judge cooper will review the information submitted by the iMEGA and the defendants, US DOJ, and Federal Reserve, to determine if she will grant iMEGA’s request for a temporary restraining order preventing the enforcement of UIGEA.

Joe Brennan Jr. said: “We are happy that the Court has set a date for hearing our case. We are confident that once the Act is given an impartial examination, the Court will see the problems it creates and the kind of slippery-slope precedent we will be left with if the law stands.

Brennan also said: “We have laid out our argument on the merits of granting a TRO for the enforcement of UIGEA for the Court.” “From iMEGA’s standpoint, we did not want the defendants, US Dept of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve to use the allowed 60 days in their summonses in order to stall and give them more time to promulgate the regulations for UIGEA.”

It appears things are looking up for the gambling industry. Watch this space for more news as it comes our way, we will keep you updated.

Author: GamesAndCasino