By Samantha Williams
The debate still rages in the US over the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). While some senate officials see it as a good thing, the more forward thinking senators realize that this act is ridiculous and should either be scrapped or amended to provide a more regulatory law rather than this outright ban. But what does this mean to the internet gambling fan in the US?
The basic tenets of the law make it appear that online gambling is illegal, and while gambling of any kind is banned in some states, online gambling in these states would also be illegal. For the rest of the states however, online gambling per se is not illegal, it is the financial transacting between the gambler, the bank and the site which this law interferes with.
UIGEA effectively caused 2 003 US sites to look to other shores for their income, rather than wade through the maze of financial intricacies it caused. Major banks’ were forced to stop processing payments and this us why credit cards issued in the US, won’t transact at internet gambling sites.
Neteller was one of the safest and most efficient ways for US players online to make and receive payments from these sites, and UIGEA messed with them also. The Caribbean lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization to the effect that this law violated trade accords, as did the European Union, and yet, no satisfactory response from the US is or has been forthcoming.
There are many internet gambling sites which won’t deal with US players because of the red tape involved, however, there a number of sites which won’t back down and they continue to ply their trade with US players. Companies such as 888.com completely pulled out of the US and have become incredibly successful in the UK and European markets, whereas European company Bodog, still offers services to US players.
Various new and more sophisticated ewallets are available and these also help for US players to make real money transactions online. How this works, I am not really clear, but work it does.
Internet gambling is one of the biggest cash cows in terms of online business. It generally falls into four distinct categories; online poker, online bingo, sports betting and online casinos. However in recent times, more arcade games have become monetized and sites are specializing games such as monetized backgammon too.
Every single one of these real money internet gambling options has a way of offering games to the US market. It really is as simple as conducting a search for “Internet gambling US players”. To find a site which will suit you; gambling is and always has been one of those industries which has been strictly regulated, because the big profits it generates. So in the years since the US has had UIGEA in place; the amount of tax revenue they have been unable to tap into has been quite substantial. Perhaps this has been the reason for them suffering such a poor economy in recent times?
