• Posts Tagged ‘UIGEA’

    UIGEA Continues to Block Online Slots Gambling

    Monday, May 30th, 2011

    The UIGEA of 2006 is still in effect and it is having a serious impact on the US market. It is no secret that slots gambling is a huge market. All over the world slots are able to bring in millions of dollars all the time. This is something that most economies are relying on too. They know how much value there is in having a good slots plan. The games are affordable. You can easily find penny-slots, nickel- slots or quarter- slots if you are watching your bankroll or have a limited bankroll to work with. This is the reason why the games are so popular. Even someone who has a small bankroll can still work with games for a few hours if they bring a few dollars and stick to the lower wager games. The movement of slots to the online market is something that there are plenty of reasons for. Not only are the games huge fun, but then offer their operators the chance to win that much more in revenue from loyal gamblers. The problem though is still the UIGEA. The UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, was pushed through in 2006. It was supposed to protect gamblers and stop online gaming, but in the end all it did was push people to the offshore gambling companies. Gamblers made it clear that they were going to wager regardless of what the market showed or how it changed.

    Now the UIGEA is being scrutinized due to how much it is stifling the overall market. Legislators are working to change the law though due to how much money is not able to enter the US market as a result of the ban. Gamblers have made it clear that they 1) love slots games and 2) they are going to play on them no matter what. They have the chance to keep on working with the games and are going to continue regardless of the rules the US has. This is the reason why US legislator are pushing for change. They know that every month they don’t have a slots regulation working for them, they are losing hundreds-of-thousands, maybe even millions of dollars.

    NV Looks to Legalize Online Slots Gaming

    Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

    Nevada used to be the gambling hub of the US. If you wanted to wager on the best games, then you only had to head down to Sin City. This was a location that was built up over the years and since the 40s managed to hold the title of the best gambling center you could possibly find. There was a huge shift in the market though. The eighteen-month-long recession was difficult on the entire world and that included the casino market. You can find casinos now that are still trying to turn themselves around. The gambling companies in Nevada are worried that they are not going to return to their same levels of financial performance pre-recession. They are looking to revival, but they are aware that it is only going to happen with some proactive changes made to the market. Nevada gaming commissioners are looking to expand gambling, but know that it may take longer than they want if it isn’t carefully planned out. One way to work with gambling and encourage its growth is to legalize online gambling on slots. This is something would help to bring in the much- needed revenue that the state has been missing for a few years now. There is a holdup though…online gambling is not legal anywhere and that means that the rules have to be written from the beginning. They also have to be worked so that they are viable for the market.

    The only online law in the US is the UIGEA of 2006. This of course was a bill that banned online gambling for US residents. Legislators decided that they would avoid the controversy by flagging and denying any online gambling activity. Though this bill never really worked, it now is being called into question again. Now state legislators are trying to come up with ways of building their own online legalization. There are a few states looking to make the change, but it is a race to see what state in the end is going to be the first. It of course is a no-brainer that Nevada would lead the way though and that is why legisaltors are pushing for change already.

    The UIGEA and its Ineffectiveness

    Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

    Right now there is huge debate over what to do with casino gambling in the US. Thus far the only bill that’s dictating what happens in the country is the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, of 2006. The purpose of this bill was to prohibit people from going online to wager in the US. As with other things though, prohibition for the US has never worked. There’ve been many times when legislators have tried to step in and stop activities by creating laws that make them illegal. Unfortunately, this is never worked effectively to people of always found ways to carry out the activities that they wanted to. The same happened with the UIGEA. Though the bill came down people merely shifted their gambling to offshore gaming companies. Of course the repercussion was that the fuel their money completely out of the country and now legislators are first seen how ineffective their bill of 2006 really was. They are trying to make sure that doesn’t happen again so now they’re considering reworking the laws regarding gambling in coming up the way that they can protect people but still benefit from the huge gambling dollars that are available. If there’s one thing that the definite growth market in the US it is gambling. The market is a $3 billion business right now and that’s projected to more than double by the year 2014. That means that if states in the US put together a viable way of monitoring and regulating gambling they could bring a huge portion of that money directly into their economy – and this is a huge priority for legislators right now because they’re so sorely need of money to turn around the post-recessionary financial condition of the US.

    In coming months you are going to see more and more legislators are working to come up with bills that amended the ineffective UIGEA of 2006. The new bills are going to most likely capitalize on the fact that the US gambling market is huge. With the right legislation their dollars can be used to build up state coffers and turn the market around. Right now that’s a priority for legislators throughout the US – to make a turn for the better in terms of their financial situations.

    Will UIGEA Finally Be Amended in 2011

    Friday, January 14th, 2011

    Gaming companies want the US market. Operators are fully aware that there are millions of US residents who love to play slots games and they want to attract them. Back in 2006 the US passed the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This was an act that strived to ban online gambling from the market and protect the gaming public from untrustworthy gaming companies. It put the responsibility of investigating, flagging and denying illegal gambling activity into the hands of banks. They had to police all transactions and face fines if they weren’t vigilant. This was a big hassle for banks because it cost them a lot more manpower to scrutinize every transaction and flag it for illegal activity. They did it though, for fear of the huge fines the government was imposing if they didn’t. For the US gamers though, having no other option didn’t stop them. Possibly legislators thought this would be the end of the issue, but it wasn’t.

    US gamers did what anyone would do in the global market of today—they moved to offshore gambling companies to meet their needs as gamers. They started wagering on casinos out of the country, who were more than welcoming of their business. As a result, millions of dollars were fueled out of the country and that is money that the market will never recover. Now, the US legislators realize that their move to “ban” online gambling isn’t going to work. In fact, prohibition rarely does. They are rethinking their decisions now and trying to come up with amendments to the UIGEA bill that would update it and allow for online gamblers to wager legally. If this happens, gaming companies want to be ready. They are already hanging out like hungry wolves at the door step of the US gambling market. Some are positioning themselves to easily move into the market and take over a share. It is good news for gamers who want to wager online, but it also comes with some cautions. People have to be able to sort through the influx of companies and know what to pick and what to deny. Hopefully legislators will build some safeguards and rules into the system that help to protect the gaming public as they move into the slots market legally.

    UIGEA Still Up for Debate with Slots Fans

    Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

    If you know anything about the history of slots gaming in the US then no doubt you have heard of the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. This was a bill that was tasked with eliminating gambling online and protecting US residents. The structure of the bill was to put the responsibility of gaming transaction monitoring into the hands of financial institutions. They were given the hefty job to monitor, research and flag any activity that was related to online gambling and deny it. If they didn’t, they were then responsible for hefty fines and other problems for breaking the law. This didn’t sit well with financial institutions. Operators believed that it was unfair, but they also recognized there was little they could do to combat the situation. They took on the liability and because of pending problems became overzealous about denying any transaction that even looked like it was gambling related. This created problems because some activities that should according to law have gone through, did not.

    Now things are different and gaming companies are fighting hard to be heard. The US is struggling financially and having problems with reviving the market fully. There are plans—job creation, being a major one—but whether or not that will do it alone has yet to be seen. Individual state legislators are realizing how ineffective the UIGEA was and how it failed on all counts to protect the US residents. They are now setting their own individual rules for the states and that means doing what is best. They are seeing the benefits of bringing slots gaming in and trying to write their own laws to tax and regulate the games. There is a big enough market for them. In fact, the market never left. It was huge pre-UIGEA and during. Gamers just moved their gaming to offshore companies, but never stopped gaming. This was a sign for regulators to know that gambling is here to stay. Now gaming is up in the air again, but slowly gaining more and more public acceptance. Expect legislators to push for the games to be brought in due to the huge tax revenue dollars they bring in with them.

    Legalization in the US Presses Forward

    Thursday, January 6th, 2011

    There s a lot to remember in the world of slots gaming. Legally the laws are varied throughout the country. No one can debate that legislators are still going head to head on different decisions and trying to find ways to make legalization work. There are billions of dollars at stake if gambling is legalized. The most recent estimate of the market showed that gambling is a $3 billion business and is going to reach $7 billion by 2014. With that kind of profit, it is no wonder why legislators are making a push for change. They want to legalize and regulate slots gamin in their jurisdictions to take advantage of the huge tax revenue dollars. The problem now though is that the laws are far from equitable. For example, in California you have to be twenty-five years of age or older to legally play slot machines. On the other hand in Arizona, it doesn’t matter what your age is—the games are legalized. This is just an example of how things are different depending on what state you are in.

    It will take a while for gaming laws to regulate and the only law right now is the federal law called the UIGEA of 2006. This was a law that made an affiliation between gambling and financial institutions illegal. The law proved to be ineffective and now it is up to individual states to write their own laws on what they want to do with gaming. State legislators are taking their time with the changes. They want to make sure that there is enough money being brought in, but also that people are protected and the markets are ready for the changes. For example, if a city introduces a high-profile slots parlor, that brings the need for an added police force, possibly a new parking plan and traffic light schedule, and other changes. These all created added costs that legislators have to be aware of, and that is where their attention is at in the future. Expect more games to be legalized and legislators to continue working with the slot to maximize their revenue. There may not be a time when all the rules are uniform throughout the state, but it is going to get closer and closer as time goes on.

    Slots Gaming for US Players

    Monday, December 13th, 2010

    New gamers to the online market often wonder how they should fund their first accounts. The truth is that it is up to you, but there are a lot of options out there. Two of the most common and safe are via credit card or bank transfer. Of course legally these options aren’t always possible. Remember that in the US the UIGEA is still in effect. That means that banks cannot allow transactions involving online gambling to go through. They will block it. If you aren’t in the US though, these are two of the easiest ways to fund your account. All you have to do is enter your credit card number or bank routing number into your account and you can transfer money to your casino account immediately. It is just like making an immediate credit card purchase. There is no waiting at all. If you can’t use a credit card due to current laws in your area, don’t worry there are still a lot of options.

    You also can use the e-wallet solution. This is big business these days due to the problems that banks have with legally accepting transactions related to gambling. You shouldn’t have a problem opening an account. It is a lot like PayPal. If you have ever used this company, then you know how simple it is. You merely open an account and tie it to your bank account. Then you can move money back and forth, collect payments and send them with a few clicks of a mouse. It is a simple way to transfer money to an online casino account. This is one of the most popular due to the protections you get by using popular e-wallet solutions. Your personal information isn’t known by the third-party and that can be very comforting for gamers how are worried about safety. Finally, you also can use a pre-paid debit card. This is growing to be a more popular way of funding casino accounts due to its ease of use. You can load as much as you want on your credit card and won’t have to worry about ever going over your limit. Most people set the limit as their total bankroll limit. Once it is depleted to zero, they are done wagering until them reload money onto it. Overall online gambling is simple and technology is making it easier than ever to fund accounts for more gaming possibilities.

    How Did the UIGEA Come About?

    Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

    If you have studied gambling at all, then you  know the changes that happened in 2006. Basically the history of gambling in the US can be split into pre-UIGEA and post-UIGEA timelines. The UIGEA is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. It was passed in 2006, but was in the works for many years prior to that. Initially Congress first began working with gambling law back in 1998. The country was trying to find a viable way to handle online gambling. Until 2006 though the US legislators efforts all proved ineffective. In 2006 there were some negative happenings in the world of gambling. For this reason the “American Values Agenda” was created and in it, gambling was banned completely. Representatives Jim Leach and Bob Goodlatte were the leaders for the cause and they pushed to eliminate gambling because they believed it would increase fraud, identity theft, security needs and money laundering. Though there was no proof that this is what would happen, the country ended up accepting their arguments. Though there was some opposition, the UIGEA was pushed through on the tails of another bill called the Homeland Security bill. It was a huge change in the market and banned gaming overal.

    Once the UIGEA was passed, it changed the market. It forced financial institutions to say no to gambling. They had to police all transactions coming in, flag those that were affiliated with gambling and then deny them. If they didn’t they were under the threat of high fines and the surrender of money. Banks became overly cautions for fear of losing money and activities that should have been legal were swept away under the heading of “gambling related” activities. The deficiencies of the UIGEA are becoming fully apparent now. The bill was supposed to stop gambling, but all it did in retrospect was to stop gambling in the US. US players quickly shifted to offshore gambling companies and used them to play games. That of course means that billions of dollars were channeled out of the country- and that money will never be recovered. The UIGEA was an incomplete document and now there are serious changes coming about to amend it. If the changes do go through, it looks like gambling will be legalized and regulated. Only time will tell what really happens, but it seems that legalizing gambling is only a matter of a few months.

    The UIGEA and How It is Changing the US

    Monday, December 21st, 2009

    In 2006 the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, was brought into legislation. The point of the law was to thwart illegal gambling online to protect consumers. Although this was its intention, the law had some other results. The UIGEA ended up targeting financial institutions. They were tasked with the overwhelming task of flagging and denying any transactions that were affiliated with online gambling. Banks didn’t like the change because it costs money for them to alter their procedures to account for the new checks. In the end, the UIGEA ended up creating a lot of problems because other forms of gambling that were meant to be legal, like lotteries and sports betting, were thrown into the mix and banks seized those funds too.

    When it comes to the online casino world, they were equally as thrown by the UIGEA rule. Many chose to leave the market. For example, Party Gaming issued a statement that read, “The Board of Party Gaming has determined that if the President signs the Act into law, the Company will suspend all real money gaming business with US residents, and such suspension will continue indefinitely, subject to clarification of the interpretation and enforcement of US law and the impact on financial institutions of this and other related legislation.”  

    Many online casinos were scared and decided to alienate the US market altogether as a way to avoid breaking any laws in the world of online gambling. A lot of companies were as conservative as Party Gaming. When companies left the US market, online gamblers were left with no choice but to move to offshore gambling companies. The problem is that they then channeled billions of US dollars out of the country. One legislator said, “Every day the US does not put laws in act to accept online slots and gambling, is another day the country is losing millions of dollars in potential revenue.”  With the numbers when it comes to gambling as high as they are, it’s a difficult to pass up the huge revenues. In particular because of the huge US deficit, it’s imperative that more legislation is put into place to legalize and regulate online gambling.

    iNetBet Online Casino Review- Part 2

    Saturday, December 19th, 2009

    iNetBet has also unveiled a host of new slots for their loyal customers. The company was established in 1999 and since that time, iNetBet Casino has received a number of awards. That includes an award for the first RTG powered casino accredited by Casinomeister. OGGS.com has also awarded Best Online Casino to iNetBet, and they have also received the Best Casino Manager Award two years running. It’s no doubt that this is a great online casino and is consistently growing within the market to sustain its reputation of excellence. Programmers and developers have focused on bringing the newest and most dynamic games to the market via the iNetBet online casino website.

    One of iNetBet’s exciting features is its progressive jackpot, with its Casino Slot. Players can win some of these by hitting the relevant pay line, and other payouts are simply random. When the random jackpots occur, you can get them any time with any bet size. The only requirement is that you are signed-in and wagering. It’s a great bonus to have—imagine it! You are playing your favorite slots game online and suddenly you get chosen for the random jackpot. It’s one of the fun little extras that iNetBet has to offer to its customers.

    Over the years iNetBet has lead the way in terms of innovation within the market. The most recent change is iNetBet Wireless. This is a new application that allows you to play their games while on the go. The small download integrates with any smartphone or iPhone for seamless game play while you are traveling. It’s a great option for anyone The application allows you to play on any mobile device including Palm pilots, cell phones and pocket PCs. All you need is a WiFi connection or data wireless service and you can enjoy all their games as you travel on a plane, train or bus. The best thing about this casino is that it has kept up with the gaming industry over the years. The casino has been around now for a decade but when you look at all it has to offer, you think that they just possibly are only getting started.