Re: Gamblin 911 article.
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can someone post some of the key points, i don't have access at work
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Online Gambling: It's All Over Without iMEGA
For the lucrative online gambling industry, firmly committed operators are now admitting to Gambling911.com: "If iMega doesn't come through, we might as well just pack it in".
iMEGA is the trade organization that is currently challenging a controversial online gambling ban. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act - passed in October - requires banking institutions to monitor and prevent transactions for the purpose of online gambling activity in the United States.
While there is currently a move by several politicians to have the law repealed, that process could take months, assuming it happens at all. The UIGEA ordered banks to have in place an "across the board policy" demonstrating how such transactions would be monitored. The early July deadline has come and gone with little evidence of a policy change, though the banks insisted they needed more than the 270 days allotted to them.
iMEGA's goal is to get the court to declare the UIGEA unconstitutional and unenforceable. The group says the act violates the First Amendment’s rights to freedom of speech and commercial association as well as the Tenth Amendment’s protections of states’ rights to regulate online gambling.
“We think the law infringes on the First Amendment and Tenth Amendment rights of our members,” Edward Leyden, iMEGA’s president, told Red Herring last month. “And we also believe the government has exceeded its authority in its WTO dispute with Antigua and that too has harmed our clients.”
A Federal Judge in the state of New Jersey has assigned a hearing date of September 4 for its lawsuit.
"iMEGA is our (the online gambling industry) only hope right now and I get the sense that people don't really understand the urgency here," one operator, asking for anonymity, told Gambling911.com Tuesday morning. "We need this thing to work. Once the banks get involved it's all over."
Right now, while many of the top tier payment processors have stopped doing business with US-facing online gambling companies, the banking industry itself had not been required to abide by any ruling until after July 1. Sources close to Gambling911.com have revealed that the banks are quietly supportive of iMEGA though not financially. The organization is now aggressively seeking donations in order to pay for court fees. A few of the online gambling establishments have helped out but not all.
"The big online poker players need to get on board here," said one operator. "We realize that Alfonse D'Amato and the Poker Players Alliance are doing a commendable job but their efforts won't stop the banks in the short term and it is questionable whether they will be able to do so in the long term either."
The consequences of iMEGA losing in its effort? The big name online poker sites still catering to US players will be forced to shut down, at least to the US market. Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker will not be able to take money in nor will they be able to make payouts.
The writing may already be on the wall.
Antigua's Gaming Director, Ron Maginley noted that the online gambling jurisdiction of the Isle of Man recently gave notice to gaming companies that it intends to close all gaming-related accounts.
“Already, some companies here have been given notice," Maginley said. "Under the law here, gaming companies are required to put ‘gaming’ in their names and in relation to getting accounts, certainly the local banks here are showing reluctance to offer new accounts, even to companies registered here.
Calvin Ayre, CEO of Bodog.com, confessed to Gambling911.com that this will be the first football season his company will not be actively marketing. While Bodog has no intention at this time of leaving the US market, his company is going to be focusing more heavily on Europe and even Asia over the coming months.
"Things have gotten really difficult in the US," Ayre said.
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com
Originally published July 31, 2007 9:50 am ET
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