Talking Point | UIGEA

Americans love poker. Besides playing the game in great numbers – in our homes, our casinos, and yes, online – it is a part of the nation’s narrative, celebrated through song, literature and cinema. Poker is a reflection of it’s boundless optimism, our willingness to take risks, to suffer defeat only to try again.
And yet there are those – a minority, to be sure, but powerful and influential – that do not share this view, and who go so far as to support the passage of laws that would make criminals of those who enjoy this simple pastime. The i-gaming opponents in the US who supported the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) say that their interests lie in protecting underage and problem gamblers, and preventing online fraud.

Actually, those same people might be surprised to find that we at the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association wholeheartedly agree with those goals. However, we strongly oppose the means established by the UIGEA, and suggest that there are far more effective ways of protecting players, families and the game.

If you oppose the UIGEA, you have a wide variety of flaws on which to base your objection: the intrusion by the government into the private, lawful conduct of its citizens; the impossible enforcement burden placed on banks, payment processors and credit card companies; or the utter vagueness of the law – which declines to even define what ‘unlawful internet gambling’ is.

Self defeating

But perhaps the greatest reason to oppose the UIGEA is this: in being denied access to service by US banks and credit card companies, the at-risk groups the UIGEA’s champions apparently seek to protect are, in fact, made more vulnerable.

More so than perhaps any other industry, major banks and credit card companies have a massive and reliable network of safeguards designed to protect not only their institutions, but their customers as well. They include age and identity verifications, vectoring to track spending, checks on credit worthiness and limits and thorough accounting of individuals’ financial status, including liquidity and debt.

It is a system designed to ensure our financial safety, and it would be the most effective means of protecting problem gamblers from over-extending themselves, steering consumers away from fraud and barring those who do not meet age and identity standards. So why on earth would anyone think it a good idea to bar this system from the gambling marketplace?

Good online poker operators have a vested interest in providing a secure environment for players who are of age and financially stable, and would be happy to work with the US government to ensure the necessary safeguards are in place and remain vigilant so as to protect at-risk groups. It is time for the US government and i-gaming opponents to fold their lousy hand and join the industry in establishing a sensible regulatory system for internet poker.

Joe Brennan is the chairman of the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association