The UIGEA Brought Unexpected Repercussions in Slots Gaming
In October of 2006 the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, was passed. It did not define gambling as illegal. In fact, it didn’t really touch the topic of gambling at all. It actually focused more on stopping deposits and withdrawals for online gambling transactions. It focused on financial institutions and made them responsible for flagging and denying transactions that were coming from gambling websites.
Over the years the UIGEA has had limited success in achieving its goals. Banks have never been supportive of the law because it left the responsibility of checking each transaction with them. They also were held responsible if any transactions got past their system of checking. This led to huge fines and federal issues. It’s no wonder banks had a hard time with the UIGEA and are more than excited to hear about some of the changes the laws are going through.
Part of the problem with the UIGEA is that although it initially was thought to be instituted to “protect family values” in reality it had other outcomes. In particular, it forced some of the best and most reputable online casinos from the US to pull out of the country. They wanted to avoid conflict with the US government and the federal government and felt the most viable solution was to leave operations in the country completely. Unfortunately the repercussion for good online casinos leaving was the door opening for less than scrupulous casinos coming into the market to take over the US market. These newer online casinos offer huge bonuses, easy deposits, and tons of gimmicks that rarely payout. They also are notorious for offering huge jackpots—until players win them. Then the huge jackpot is not paid out due to some “fine print” rule.
Another negative repercussion of the UIGEA happened in 2008. November of that year MicroGaming, one of the biggest online software providers to online casinos, made a change. They allowed their licensees to continue servicing existing USA residents with accounts, but they stopped allowing them to accept new registrations from US players. Again, this put players in a difficult situation because suddenly they had to be twice as careful when choosing an online slots or gambling casino.
Although the UIGEA set out to protect players from dangerous online activities, it instead opened the door for some huge issues for online slots players and online gamblers. Hopefully with new amendments to the UIGEA on the table, some will be adopted and truly be able to protect citizens.
