U.S Senators Appeal For UIGEA Clarification
February 27th, 2008
Two U.S senators have written to U.S Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, criticising the implementation rules of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
According to the senators, the legislation places too much of a burden on the banks and financial institutions that must implement the ban and there is a need for clarity as to which transactions should in fact be blocked.
The letter states that although some guidance has been issued, ‘it leaves sufficient ambiguity as to what sort of transactions are to be blocked’.
The senators say that in failing to provide more detail, the proposed rules would ‘inordinately burden every bank, credit union, credit card company, money transmitting business and payment system in the country, leading to non-uniform compliance and confusion’.
Extensive public comments previously received on this issue have highlighted the likelihood that risk-averse financial institutions will simply choose to block every transaction that may be interpreted or could resemble gambling, whether legal or not.
‘Knowing that this is not your intention, we write to urge that any final rules contain a list of restricted transactions and instances that are covered by the law and the corresponding rules’ say the senators. ‘As an alternative, we suggest you consider separating the rules into those forms of activities for which there is settled federal law (i.e. defined by the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) and those that are not’ (i.e. poker).
This would allow immediate implementation for known activities, while providing greater time to determine what other transactions are to be captured.
The letter was signed by Senator John E. Sununu and Senator Pete Domenici, both Republicans.
Comments to this post
