Oct 6th - My take on the 'Unlawful Gambling Act - 2006'

From being called a 'weasal' to 'a bunch of monkeys' Bill Frist and lawmakers in the US decided, this past week, that it'd be a great idea to try and stop gambling on the Internet by making it as difficult as possible for punters to deposit money onto these 'unlawful' sites.

The 'Unlawful Gambling Act' was tagged onto some 'must sign into law' papers and, unlike in the UK where each piece of legislation must stand on its own two legs to pass, the Congress waved it through without debate.

The 'Land Of The Free' became 'Land Of The Not-In-My-Backyard' and whilst the practicality of the law may look tough to police there's no doubt the American lawmakers mean business when it comes to keeping as many $ inside the country as it possibly can.

Of course 'in practice' the law does not attempt to outlaw gambling on the Internet. No mention of illegality is seen in the bill that passed. By cutting off the money supply via credit cards and banks however the intent is there to demonstrate the lawmakers ability to crack down on the ability of Joe Soap citizens to spend their money as they see fit.

This 'half arsed' approach to prohibition though is fundamentally flawed in one major aspect.

With 3rd party money pushers (NETELLER, FIREPAY, MONEYBOOKERS etc) in play there really should be no problem whatsoever in funding on-line poker rooms by Americans or anyone else for that matter.

NETELLER, and the like, don't operate out of the US, they dont have a US presence and they're run in accordance with the rules and regulations of the country they operate out of. In NETELLERS case its the Isle Of Man.

By funding NETELLER directly this circumnavigates any direct reference to a gaming site and, as such, the banks etc cannot prevent these tranactions from occurring as they don't contavene and 'direct funding of gaming site' rules.

Of course the big name in on-line poker in Partypoker has informed its clientel in the US of its intention to quit the US immediateley upon the bill being signed into law by the president. This is entirely understandable as they are a public company, quoted on the stock market, and whilst they may have been happy to operate in the 'grey' area that existed before the US law was changed they're certainly not going to operate in an area that totally makes their product dodgier than it already looks. After all their CEO and directors will probably still want to visit the USA from time to time without fear of being arrested as soon as they land!

As for the immediate aftermath of the law becoming signed Bill Rini (www.billrini.com) has written a very good discertation as to what HE perceives as the likely outcomes. Makes grim reading in you're an American!

Meanwhile, back in the UK, our government is content to let its citizens continue to spunk its money whichever way it chooses and tax accordingly. The Gambling Act of 2007 comes into effect within 12 months and we're about to embark on a scenario of major casino expansions.

Gambling is good..except in America!