On Friday 13 October, 2006 the United States Government signed into law the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The UIGEA basically made it illegal for banks and financial institutions to process deposits and withdrawals from online gambling sites from US citizens. Within hours of the act being passed into law, the vast majority of online poker sites refused to have American citizens as customers with one floated company losing over 60% of its value in the 24 hours afterRead Full Article

With the June 1st deadline upon us, as US poker players we are now faced with the full brunt of UIGEA legislation. The legislation passed in 2006, and was scheduled to take effect in December of 2009, but was delayed 6 months to give lawmakers a chance to pass legislation to regulate the online gaming industry. In a recent Card Player article, PPA director John Pappas tried to downplay the effect UIGEA will have on the online poker market inRead Full Article

Despite the mounting fears that the UIGEA legislation that was passed in 2006 will go into effect at the June 1st deadline, the implications for online poker players in the United States is not as bad as it seems. First and foremost, it will not be a crime to play online poker. The UIGEA only makes processing poker payments illegal and subject to fines and prosecution. So fear not poker players, you will still be able to play online pokerRead Full Article

After a failed attempt to sway one of online poker’s harshest critics, Representative John Kyl (R-AZ), it appears that online poker players should be ready for an even stricter online poker climate after June 1st, when the UIGEA law of 2006 goes into full effect. Former Representative in Congress and current Poker Players Alliance Chairman, Alfonse D’Amato, met with his former colleague to try to hash out an agreement that would exempt poker from UIGEA mandates on gambling. The wordRead Full Article

With the clock ticking on UIGEA legislation going into full effect, the online poker community has been pulling together in attempt to show the powers that be in Washington DC just how popular online poker is in the United States. Basically, the goal of the UIGEA protest is to have every online poker player participate as much as possible on June 1st (the day UIGEA goes into effect) preferably at one of the bigger online poker sites (PokerStars or FullRead Full Article

Come June 1st 2010 the world of online poker could be flipped on its head in a way not seen since 2006, when publicly traded online poker rooms left the US market. After a 6-month extension to give lawmakers a chance to pass legislation on online gambling (poker included) it’s highly unlikely anything will get done before the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act goes into effect. The legislation does not make playing online poker illegal per se, what it doesRead Full Article

The government of Norway has taken a controversial step by creating a new law that essentially makes processing payments for online operators based outside of Norway a crime. The law requires payment processors to verify that payments in relation to Norway can only be processed for valid operations licensed in Norway. Before the law was made official, there were protests stating the law does not conform with European Union regulations which state that member nations do not require domestic licensingRead Full Article

It has come to the attention of the media that online poker rooms that are based within the United States of America are having an increased amount of difficulty with the processing of deposits made by their members from their credit cards. The issues started to happen when the UIGEA was passed in 2006 and since that point, the online poker sites have been finding that more and more of the major credit card issuing banks are rejecting funding toRead Full Article

Despite the current turmoil in Congress over health-care reform, Barney Frank still appears hopeful that he can have online gaming legislation passed. His most recent effort –a sort-of fail-safe in case online gaming legislation is not dealt with during the current session of Congress—was to urge regulators to delay the implementation of UIGEA legislation (set to go into effect Dec 1, 2009). According to Reuters, Frank penned a letter to several key figures including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FederalRead Full Article