Federal Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act

Gregory

Well-Known Member
#1
Got this in my email this morning:

Dear Gregory,

Due to the imminent passing of the Federal Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act on September 30 th 2006, we are no longer accepting wagers from residents in the United States. We regret to inform you that from 11am EST on 3rd October, 2006, we will be closing all your gaming accounts.

Your balance, minus any uncleared bonuses, will be refunded to you by check within the next 3 to 4 weeks.

As the world’s oldest and most respected online casino we very much hope in the months to come that the USA will see fit to license and regulate online gaming so that we can once again offer our services to you.

We apologize for any inconvenience and express our sincere thanks for your patronage.

Yours truly,


Ryan Hartley
Manager - InterCasino
By the way, I also recieved an identical email from VIP Casino.
 

EasyRhino

Well-Known Member
#3
Yeah, looks like all cryptologic clients dropped US players at once. it will be pretty much a given from any publicly traded casino as well.

... while I don't doubt there will be holdouts, when you're only left with "unreputable" casinos, you're in pretty bad shape.

I'm trying to get in as many bonuses as I can before it all goes away :)
 
#7
Casino Madness

I'm not sure why some casino's are dumping their US clients. The Bill that was passed targets the financial institutions, not the casinos. I've read the entire Bill and not one word about taking any action against a casino. No casino is at risk. If a US citizen choses to violate the law, then THEY are the one's at risk. PLUS, there will be 270 days before any procedures and guidelines are formalized. No one is at any kind of risk for the next 9 months or so. The only casinos at risk are those that were operating illegally even before the bill was passed. The Bill didn't add or change any law, it just addresses enforcement of existing laws.

This whole thing is ridiculous. The US is going to tell Neteller and Citadel to police US tranactions??? I doubt it.

This doesn't make any sense, especially when the biggest gambling game in the world is right there on Wall street...... Playing Blackjack is much less risky than trading Commodities!!!
 

KenSmith

Administrator
Staff member
#8
Actually, while I understand the point you're trying to make, this law definitely does NOT make it a crime to play at an online casino. The crime is for a gambling entity to accept a funds transfer for purposes of Unlawful Internet Gambling, a phrase which is defined to be gambling over the Internet in violation of a Federal or State law.

You are correct in saying this doesn't actually outlaw any gambling that wasn't already illegal. However, it does now make illegal at the Federal level any transactions to states that have a specific state law against internet gambling.

Add to that the fact that the Justice Department already has a broader opinion of the law than the actual law will support, and you have a recipe for disaster for anyone who thinks this law is anything other than a prohibition. I think that many transactions even involving US citizens would be found legal under this new law in the courts, but I don't know anyone who wants to line up to be a test case.
 
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