Online gambling in the United States may have met its match. On Oct. 13, President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) into law, three months after the House of Representatives passed it by a vote of 317 to 93.
Though it does not actually affect Americans' right to gamble online, the UIGEA will stop online gambling by banning banks and credit card companies from making transactions with online gambling Web sites. The act, which was part of a port security bill, makes exceptions for state lotteries and horse racing.
After the sudden surge of popularity for poker fueled by TV shows and movies centered on the subject, some may be surprised to know that casinos, or "brick and mortar" gambling facilities, are now the only legal places to play.
At Tufts, poker made waves in April 2005 with the Tufts Poker Society's first annual tournament, which attracted hundreds of Jumbos and even one famous poker player, Dutch Boyd.
But now, poker at home may be restricted to illegal basement games instead of late-night computer betting.
Junior Zachary Louden played in the 2005 tournament's final game and plays online poker at home. He said that since the UIGEA passed, he's noticed several sites have closed down. "I play poker primarily on two sites now instead of the five or six I used to play on," he said via e-mail.
"[I]f all poker sites were shut down, that would force players to change venues and play more home games," he added.
Professor Joel Trachtman, who studies international law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, explained that the UIGEA may be the final stop to Internet gambling. "There is a patchwork of laws that came before this that did a lot to make online gambling difficult," he said, "but they didn't get to the credit companies [as UIGEA does]."
While the United Kingdom and many other countries focus on regulating online gambling, the United States has decided to completely ban it. But there exists one major international reason for shutting down Internet betting: trade agreements.
According to Trachtman, Antigua has brought a case against the United States at the World Trade Organization that
disputes the right to ban offshore gambling. The United States, it turns out, has commitments to allow international online gambling as part of its WTO membership. American lawyers argued that "they had the right to protect morals in the U.S., and that included the right to restrict online gambling," Trachtman said.
That argument failed because online gambling was still legal in the United States. Now, with the passage of the UIGEA, the United States has completely banned Internet gambling and is free from its WTO obligations to allow offshore betting.
Louden believes there are other motivations in banning Internet gambling. "The only reason the government finds a problem with the poker sites is because they are not getting their piece of the pie," he said. "That's it: No moral stance, no protecting the youth of America, no keeping gambling addicts at bay. [The ban is] only because they want their money."
Citizens are expected to report gambling incomes on tax forms, Louden said, and when they don't - which is nearly always, he believes - the government doesn't get the tax money.
Whatever the reasons for banning online gambling may be, though, it certainly will be changing in the wake of the UIGEA. "If the law does what I think it does, the credit card companies will comply, and nobody in the U.S. will be able to pay for online gambling," essentially drying up the industry, Trachtman said.
"The people that already play poker and enjoy poker will not stop playing poker," Louden said. "They will simply use other sites, or, if that is not available to them, play in many more home games. Also, casinos are never that far away anymore, so that is another outlet for poker."
Trachtman explained that the new law will certainly make online gambling "very difficult" for Americans.
And those who are new to gambling, especially poker, may have more trouble in learning the game. "It will prevent new, amateur players from starting ... Online poker is by far the most convenient place to learn and play, especially for younger players who may be under 21 and can't get into a casino without a fake ID," Louden said.
