How likely is it that UIGEA banking regulations will be postponed past June 1 2010?

[MichaelCorfman]

The effective date for banking regulations set to go into effect on the 1st of December 2009 was just postponed six months to the 1st of June 2010. Certainly some good news for those involved in iGaming.

Just one to many things for the banking system to worry about right now. Plus all six Congressmen from the state of Kentucky sent a letter to the US Treasury and Federal Reserve requesting a delay. Kentucky horse racing interests have traditionally strongly opposed online gaming. But with their race betting transactions in jeopardy suddenly they were allies with online gambling interests. What a surprise.

For more information on the delay you can view the formal announcement of the delay here: www.apcw.org/legal-documents/uigea_delayed.pdf and our article about the delay here: www.gpwa.org/article/obama-administration-delays-uigea-implementation-191696.

So, the obvious question is will the regulations really to into effect on the 1st of June? Or is the fact that they have been delayed an indication that they will probably be delayed again or will perhaps never actually go into effect at all?

Share your views about how likely they are to go into effect on June 1st and your reasoning.

[Doolally]

I've gone for what I believe is a conservative 70%.

The banks are the big players in this. They're the ones that have to control the payments and do most of the admin/leg-work. My reasoning, they've just got too much on their plates at the moment with recession/banking crisis/general bad PR, etc, that they won't devote the energy and resources needed to put the UIGEA in place.

Of course, they also have the inside line to the law-makers who I'm sure they can convince to delay again come June time.

There are also some pretty big cheeses in the gambling world who will be pulling a few strings as well.

If they postpone next time, I don't believe the UIGEA will ever be brought into effect. However, it may still take some time to get them thrown out and gaming online legalised.

[thepokerkeep]

I was a little more optimistic than Doolally, I voted 80% certain it will be delayed past June 1 2010. My belief is that it will never be implemented but there may need to be one more delay before the UIGEA is officially buried.

Momentum is growing for our side but I'm unsure whether there will be enough support in 6 months to overturn the legislation.

[vinism]

I'm sitting squarely on the fence on this one, primarily because an important part of the reasoning behind delaying the regulations was the fact that a number of Congressmen indicated they wanted to changes to the UIGEA. If it looks like there are going to be some legislative changes made next year, then I could see another postponement. But if it looks like there is going to be no movement, then I could see the rule being implemented.

[webber286]

I went for 80%. My take when seeing the news is that Congress has too much on their plates right now to kill UIGEA, so they are giving themselves 6 more months to get around to it.

[Captain]

I voted 50-50 but I hope UIGEA goes down the tubes sometime in the future. UIGEA should never have been passed to begin with.

[islandmaan]

Regardless if this bill progresses further the damage is done and will not be undone or corrected until the bill has been overturned. Kyle and Frist got what they wanted which was to severely damage our industry.

Brian

[rewardscasino]

I voted 80% will not go into effect. I think they finally realized it is impossible provide prohibition on IGAMING industry. It was impossible in 1920´s in case of alcohol prohibiton, it is impossible today. And taking financial institutions as hostages is a bad instrument at least. Banks have more important problems to take care of than manually control financial transactions.

[Skinski]

I'm really starting to feel good about this and honestly think changes will come within the next year. I'd say between 80 and 90% myself.

[Doolally]

Regardless if this bill progresses further the damage is done and will not be undone or corrected until the bill has been overturned. Kyle and Frist got what they wanted which was to severely damage our industry.

Brian

I think you're 100% correct. It's not enough now if the UIGEA doesn't go through. What we really need is legislation to go through that clearly stipulates that poker and/or casino gambling is 100% legal.

The grey areas need to be removed to get the confidence of the American people and to really open up the market.

I don't believe this will happen for a long time.

[rewardscasino]

I think you're 100% correct. It's not enough now if the UIGEA doesn't go through. What we really need is legislation to go through that clearly stipulates that poker and/or casino gambling is 100% legal.

The grey areas need to be removed to get the confidence of the American people and to really open up the market.

I don't believe this will happen for a long time.

Yes, U are right. There must be unambiguously settled legal form for online gambling industry. But I think that Americans, who played online in the past still have confidence in igaming. Americans love to gamble and keep on demanding free access to any of gaming sites despite of their lawmakers and religious groups.