UIGEA tough to enforce, officials say at Congressional hearing
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Federal officials at a Congressional hearing on Wednesday said the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) will be very difficult to attempt to enforce because of its vague wording.
Representatives from the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve were among some of the officials who testified at a hearing held by the House of Representatives International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology Subcommittee that was looking at rules for the enforcement of the UIGEA.
According to cardplayer.com:
Not only did the Treasury Federal Reserve System and the Treasury Department have extreme difficulty writing the proposed rules, because exactly what is considered illegal online gambling isn’t defined by the UIGEA or the federal government, but they also warned that banks simply aren’t up to the task of examining every single financial transaction to make sure they are not for online gambling.
“The payment system isn’t well-designed for this task, and that’s what we’re really struggling with,” testified Louise Roseman, the director of the division of reserve bank operations and payment systems. But it goes beyond the financial system, Roseman said: “The most prominent concern is the lack of clarity of what forms of gambling are unlawful.”
The UIGEA puts the onus on financial institutions to stop Americans from doing transactions with online gambling interests. Witnesses at the hearing said that it could take anywhere from 18 months to two eyars to finalize the rules for enforcement of the UIGEA.
