The infamous UIGEA, or better known as the USA online gambling ban, has come to full effect 9 days ago. What this law attempts to do is forbid all financial institutions such as banks and credit card companies of providing services to unlawful forms of gambling. These illegitimate forms of gambling are not very clear in the bill of the UIGEA; in fact, it permits certain forms of gambling, such as state and national lottery, horseracing and fantasy games. This recent law targets other forms, such as, online casinos, poker and sport betting companies.
The implementation of the UIGEA has had no visible effect so far. Many casino and poker operators feared that their deposit and withdrawal options would become unavailable. While Mastercard is no longer accepting transactions for online gambling, Visa and other credit card providers are more lax against the UIGEA. The internet still has no news about the UIGEA restricting or affecting any major gambling operation. Providers like EwalletXpress continue to offer their services to a wide array of gambling sites.
Doubt remains. It is still too early to tell if the UIGEA will have a detrimental effect on gambling sites. The US government now has a potent tool to go after law-breakers. Previously, the UIGEA had given a 4-year window for all financial institutions to comply with the law. Now that the window is over, it is to be seen if the US will want to stop gambling altogether or, because of the recent financial crisis, they will look into regulating this industry and taxing it for an extra income on a much devastated economy.
Will US players be able to play at online poker and casinos in the future? Only time will tell my friend, only time will tell. Keep coming back for further updates on this developing issue.