Players bracing for the UIGEA

Placing a wager at online casinos for US based players is set to get a whole lot tougher in just a few days time.

Unfortunately, the stage is set for that federal law signed in 2006 and known as the UIGEA to come into force on 1 June. This law prohibits the use of credit cards, checks and other financial instruments for online gambling transactions. The flow on effect of this law is intend to undermine on the online gambling industry. In other words, the law doesn’t actually make playing online illegal but just makes it more difficult. So it might not necessarily mean the end of online gambling in the States. There has, however, been a group of Democrats (lead by Barney Frank) advocating for certain online games to be legalized. Amongst them are online poker. The central pillar of his argument against the UIGEA is that the government is missing out on potentially millions of dollars of revenue that could be generated by the industry. So what do you think? Should the existing law take effect? Or should certain games like online poker be legal to create millions of extra dollars for the benefit of American citizens?
If you’re confused about what the UIGEA will actually do, here’s a good and straightforward explanation from the perspective of an online poker player.