On a careful study of the UIGEA I have come to the conclusion that it is a very cleverly planned act, and very effective in its objective which supposedly is to wipe out internet gambling in the United States. Strangely however the US government seems to be ignoring its forty states that currently offer various types of lotteries. Perhaps one factor to be duly noted is that the U.S government makes a lot of money from these state lotteries.

It does not however make money from online gaming because most of the web casinos American players interact with are based offshore. Overall this seems to be a rather hypocritical approach and we all wonder why the government cannot just tax internet gaming and make everyone happy.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has brought about some serious changes within the few months of it being instituted. The UIGEA has caused severe set backs in the gaming industry cutting down on profit for many online casino websites and preventing US players from transacting with these sites and enjoying some real gaming action.

The results could have been seen the very next day when 6.5 billion was erased from the value of online gambling shares immediately after the U.S. Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that banned Internet gaming.

Since the UIGEA, PartyPoker.com, one of the largest poker sites on the internet, exited the market. This would have caused a drastic drop in the online company’s financial standing as 78 percent of revenue earned by the United Kingdom-based gambling organization PartyGaming Plc came from the U.S. customers transacting with the website PartyPoker.com.

The UIGEA prevents financial institutions in the U.S such as banks and credit card firms from transacting in regards to fund transfers with any of the Internet-based casinos located offshore. Since then, the American gaming public has been rejected from various online casinos that have yielded to the pressure of U.S congress laws. According to these laws any “person engaged in the business of betting or wagering” deliberately transacting with online web casino companies is guilty of “unlawful Internet gambling” and is liable to face fines or even a 5 year imprisonment. This bill also forbids financial institutions from sending money to intermediaries such as online payment companies.

The founders of NETeller, one of the largest online payment companies in existence today, faced criminal indictments brought against it by the US Department of Justice.

However this act had 270 days during which guidelines and regulations for enforcement of the act should have been drawn. This period ended on the 20th of July, 2007 without anything being drawn up. There have been many an effort to have the game of poker excluded from the act. There is also a serious program that is ensuing where those against the act are trying their best to get it repealed. Like alchohol prohibition, it probably will be repealed in the end.

Everyone’s heard about the new gaming laws in the United States by now. In fact, most of the online casinos present on the web today do not allow US players, with the exception of a few select sites.

I for one never expected the UIGEA and I am sure that a very few Americans even saw it coming or else there would have been protests and insurrections galore. However, this bill passed surreptitiously under the noses of many American citizens that none of them were aware of it until the full effect of the bill hit them.

Till today there are many players who are unaware of what the UIGEA is and what conditions it entails and the effects it has had on the gaming industry.

The UIGEA or the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed on Friday the thirteenth of October, 2006 which was indeed to be an ominous day for many. It was signed by President Bush together with the SAFE Port Act and hence passed uncontested.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has not made poker playing illegal and gamers have not been categorized as criminals, (well, not yet anyway). So you need not worry if some one will arrest you if you play poker with a few buddies on a Saturday evening or if you play for fun on the internet. It is when you try real gaming in the hopes of making some money that you begin to see the UIGEA in action.

This is because according to the UIGEA, U.S banks and credit card companies are not allowed to transfer funds to Internet-based casinos located offshore. This puts a big limit on the online payment companies in transacting with American gamers. American players now find themselves banned from various online casinos beginning with the largest poker site in existence: Party Poker.

In addition to this there is also a 5 year imprisonment period or penalty fines for any “person engaged in the business of betting or wagering” who deliberately transacts financially in the purpose of “unlawful Internet gambling”.

As a result of the UIGEA, the American gaming market saw the withdrawal of several important web casino industries. Party Poker which is the largest existing poker room on the internet, as well as one of the most popular sportsbooks, was the first to yield to pressure from congress and leave the market.

Soon after this many financial payment processing companies that served as an intermediary and transferred funds to these online companies withdrew their services to American gamers. Neteller, a company of the London AIM Exchange, which is one of the biggest online payment agencies having more than 2.3 million customers and about 1,700 online merchants, soon exited the American market when the US Department of Justice brought about criminal accusations against its founders.