Coming into law in the U.S. on June 1st and although it is conceived as being poorly drawn up, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is almost upon us. Today online poker players have tens of billions of dollars in their online poker accounts. There are a number of offshore online gaming sites such as Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker and although the U.S. government has not targeted online sites directly, there are some believed to be the sources of money laundering.
In these difficult times it is hard to understand why the U.S. government is obsessed with targeting all online gaming rooms and not going directly after the shady dealers. It is the contention of a recent study that in the five years since the UIGEA ban passed Congress, the U.S. could have gained some 32,000 jobs and raised $57.billion in tax revenue from wagering. It simply does not make sense.