Testimony Being Heard

April 8, 2008

With the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, the processing of payments to online gambling establishments was made illegal. The government could not go after all of the online casinos, so they went after the banks instead. They attempted to make the banks accountable for all online gambling transactions.

However, the banks say that it is impossible for them to know everything people are spending their money on. They say that the undertaking that the government has given them is entirely too much, and they will be unable to comply with the ruling. It seems that many think that they may be right.

This week there will be testimony heard in front of a subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services. They are going to try and decide if it is possible for the banks to stop the transactions, or if it is a lost cause. It seems that once the Treasury Department passed the rules as to how the banks would be blocking online gambling, the banks stepped forward to tell them that it would be difficult at best, but truly impossible for them to comply.

The American Bankers Association is one of those groups that will be testifying in front of the committee, and they said that they could not be expected to abide by the ruling, nor to understand exactly what the government had in mind. They claim that even the text was misleading and vague when they reference “unlawful internet gambling” as some of it is still legal.

The subcommittee cannot tell the Treasury Department to change their rules, but they can make a recommendation to them that things should be changed. However, whether they choose to listen or not is another thing altogether.




Back to April 2008 Archive.