| U.S. states with budgetary gap, primarily California, may soon draw their own conclusions out of a ruling upheld by the U.S. appeals court last Thursday. The court supported the preposterous 2006 UIGEA law banning credit card payments to online gambling and poker operators despite the growing antagonism to the UIGEA on the House floor. According to influential Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA), provisions banning online money transfers are unconstitutional.
At first, the court decision seems unfavorable to the online poker community; however, it provides that online financial transactions are mostly an issue of the states’ competence. Besides, UIGEA as such does not make any online gambling activity illegal. “Whether the transaction in Interactive's hypothetical case constitutes unlawful Internet gambling turns on how the law of the state from that the bettor initiates the bet in would treat that bet," read the court's decision.
It appears that intrastate poker legalization for such states is now the matter of some near future. Online gambling for many legislations would be a solution to replenish meager local budgets.
Generally, 44 U.S. states now have an opportunity to make online gambling and poker normalized, taxed and officially regulated. Rep. Barney Frank, the Chairman of the House Financial Service Committee, proposed anti-UIGEA bill in May 2008, and it is still waiting to be passed through the Congress.
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