Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act or UIGEA has set December 1, 2009 for the banks to fully implement it. Are the banks ready for it?
In a statement from the American Bankers Association (ABA) Vice President Steve Kenneally he said that banks are already implementing the ruling.
However, while this is so, he said that, “Banks are not going to be responsible for monitoring transactions going in and out of individual’s accounts.” No one is going to follow where the checks are being drawn and further look at the account especially if the check is drawn offshore like in Aruba, for example.
However, since the banks are responsible for the monitoring and blocking of transactions with debit and credit cards, this is where they can implement the ruling. In addition, when merchant accounts are opened, they are coded accordingly. Thus, an identified online gaming or wagering entity would be coded as such. In this case, banks can deny approving transactions going to accounts coded as online wagering.
In his statement, he further state that in a pool of ten thousand online transactions every minute, it is not possible for the banks to monitor each and every one of them to identify which once are going to an online gambling website. Thus, the account coding will be very invaluable. Likewise, the bank will either hold all gaming transactions. They cannot separate the transaction for sports betting or casino gaming. Thus, when they implement, it will be in full and not separating.
Because of this, the control that the UIGEA bill can be implemented into would be on the opening of accounts of online gambling organizations.
If we are to consider the statement of Steve Kenneally, an officer of the largest banking association in the United States and speaking on behalf of the more than 4,000 member banks, while players can continue to play casino games online, depositing or withdrawing money from their account would be quite a challenge.
It is a challenge because you may need to wait a bit longer to get your money or deposit money to the online gaming websites. Likewise, using checking would far be better if you consider the statement from Kenneally.
For poker professionals having some 6 months worth of wagering money may be necessary to avoid problems as you play your games online.
Furthermore, while online poker proponents believe that the December 1, 2009 deadline may not be able to shake the online gaming industry as much as it did when the bill was initially proposed in 2006.
This is the belief of Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) even after their appeal to consider UIGEA as unconstitutional was denied by the Court of Appeals. iMEGA brought the appeal that UIGEA is unconstitutional due to vagueness, privacy concerns and because it was counter to U.S. treaty obligations.
While iMEGA manifested their intention to re-appeal their position, they have not done so because they would like to reassess their situation and probably spend their resources on where it is winnable.
iMEGA is now looking at intrastate gaming network but still a ruling on a federal court would still be the ruling that they want to get.
