PPA Requests for Online Poker Exemption from UIGEA Regulations | IXGAMES

The deadline for the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is getting nearer, and due to this the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Board has received a petition from the PPA or Poker Players Alliance. The PPA has asked the board to make clarifications on the regulation on Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act specifically on the exemption of peer-to-peer games like poker from their restrictive policies. Petition to the Federal Reserve Board The chairman for the Federal Reserve Board, Ben Bernanke, and Secretary of the Treasury Department Timothy Geithner were the recipients of the petition, and included therein was a cover letter duly signed by the members of the Congress, all 22 of them. According to the letter, the PPA is not requesting for any extension on the compliance date of June 1, however they are requesting government officials to amend one paragraph which considers the wager or bet as one which precludes “specific peer-to-peer games where the outcome is dependent on the player’s skills, including poker, bridge, chess, backgammon, and mahjong.” A section of the letter from the PPA communicates the following: Due to the clear lack of the exact definition of certain UIGEA regulations, regulated financial institutions as well as payment processors are tasked with analyzing federal and state laws which do not include Internet-based activities, as well as their application to actions which may be or may not be considered as gambling. It is a belief that Congress should simplify Internet gambling considered unlawful, which means that bills should be passed first before Congress can accomplish such. A settled federal law governs that sports betting on the Internet placed by residents in the US is in violation of the Wire Act. It has also been stipulated that accepting bets from games of chance such as blackjack, virtual slot machines, and roulette in the US is in violation of state law. It is the petitioners’ belief that simplifying the regulation would have to mean applying the said regulation only to two gambling forms, and to exempt the peer and pari mutual wagering from the scope of the regulation. The enforcement on the UIGEA is expected to be put into effect on June 1, 2010. The UIGEA enforcement is designed to keep banks, financial institutions, and credit card companies from processing transactions and payments which relate to activities on unlawful Internet gambling. Nonetheless, it has not been clear from the UIGEA which activities are actually considered illegal, rather the act provides financial institutions and banks with the responsibility at determining which activities constitute unlawful Internet gambling and which do not.