Frank's anti-UIGEA bills to be debated next week
Barney Frank's bills to legalise online gambling will be debated next week, two days after the UIGEA egaming ban comes fully into effect.
BARNEY FRANK’S BILL TO legalise online gambling will be debated next week.
The US Congressman’s HR 2266 and HR 2267 proposals, which are aimed at regulating online gaming in the US, will be debated on 3 December, meaning that a hearing to delay the implementation of the America’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) by a year will not take place until two days after UIGEA comes into effect fully on 1 December.
The UIGEA rules were approved on 19 January 2009, one day before current US president Barack Obama entered the White House, and will require “US financial firms that participate in designated payment systems to establish and implement policies that are reasonably designed to prevent payments to businesses in connection with unlawful Internet gambling.”
In October, Frank and 18 other members of the House Financial Services Committee sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke requesting a delay in the implementation of the UIGEA final rule, stating their belief “this is an unreasonable burden on regulators and the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis, and it contradicts the stated intent of the Financial Services Committee.”
This was followed in November by a counter-letter to Bernanke and Geithner from hardened internet gaming opponents Spencer Bachus, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, and Jon Kyl, the Senate minority whip, calling for the compliance date of UIGEA regulations to be enforced.
Frank’s bill HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, is aimed at a establishing a licensing and regulatory framework for online gaming in the US with the exception of sports bets, which are blocked under the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1991.