US Ban Upheld
September 13, 2009
Every time the online gambling movement feels like they are gaining some ground they find themselves losing it again. A recent ruling by the United States Appeals Court upheld the ban on online gambling, but it wasn't cut and dry. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has rejected a claim by the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gambling Association that the current laws as they relate to online gambling are too vague, unconstitutional, and infringe on an individual's right to privacy.
The court sided with the ruling that the UIGEA was illegal. But the language that they used opened another door. It seems that the court said that it was up to the individual states to decide what was legal and what wasn't. This very important ruling could not have come at a worse time. The Justice Department is currently trying to keep online gambling illegal while several members of Congress are working against that to get it overturned.
Although upset with the loss, iMEGA says that there are things that they can take out of it when moving forward that will help their case. They said that due to the complexity of the nature of the ruling that there was a chance that it could help them sometime in the future towards getting online gambling legalized again.
Although they were hoping for a win, and for this to be the first step in getting online gambling legalized, they know that there'll be other opportunities to do so. With Rep. Barney Frank in Congress still fighting to get online gambling legalized they know that they are not fighting this battle alone.
