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UIGEA- legalities of playing online casinos

UIGEA and Online Casino Players – Understanding UIGEA

The UIGEA laws made it harder for American online casino players to find an online casino to accept their business. Explaining the UIGEA laws. There are very few people who have not heard about the gaming laws which have affected gamers in the USA. Even those who have not ever gambled online have seen news reports on the matter. There are very few online casinos sites which now allow players from the United States access to play.

Nobody saw it coming

The problem with the UIGEA bill is that nobody really saw it coming. One minute Americans formed the bulk of the globe’s online gambling community. The next minute they were out in the cold when the bill was passed. There was not even time to rally support against the UIGEA bill. With so much coverage given to the bill, it is surprising that so little is known about the actual details. It has affected the online gambling community far more than anybody primarily anticipated.

Friday the 13th

On Friday the 13th, 2006, President George Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. If that particular day was chosen as a symbol to put many superstitious gamblers off any further gambling, nobody will ever know. It just seems too pointed to be a mere coincidence.

Is it fair?

The Act concentrates mainly on online gambling and does not really extend to social land based gambling. The law prohibits gamblers from winning real money from an organized organization. Whether this goes against the American constitution is still under debate, but many gamblers had their leisure time stripped in a political move to appease a few conservative citizens.

Stop the transfers

UIGEA also prevents banks in the USA and credit card companies to transfer funds across the internet casinos. This has greatly affected the secure online funds transfer companies which have been trying their best to find a loophole in the system. Many international online casinos have also found themselves in dire need of new customers due to the fact that their main client base was situated in the USA.

Not to be taken lightly

This Act is not to be taken lightly. US courts are able to sentence individuals up to five years in prison for contravening the new bill. This relates to both private gamblers and organizations which try to bypass this law.

Close the doors

Many well-known online casino and betting sites such as Sportsbooks and Party Poker eventually closed their doors in the USA because it was no longer economically viable to be based there. This was a sad day for the entire industry as these two companies were a benchmark in online gambling excellence.

This had a bad ripple effect as not only online casinos were affected. Secure online payment companies also had to withdraw from the US market. The biggest signal to these companies to vacate the shores of the Land of the Free was when NETeller had to close its doors in the USA after the US Dept. Of Justice sued the founders of the company criminally.

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