Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006

Brief Overview of the UIGEA

The UIGEA was created with the intent to curb online gambling by forcing financial institutions to block transactions between US citizens and online gambling sites. In a highly controversial move, the UIGEA was attached to an unrelated bill and passed during a midnight session of Congress in which the Senate was to adjourn just prior to the 2006 election season.

If you are familiar with past attempts to get the bill approved, you would remember the legislation failed horribly every time, frustrating those who were trying to push it forward in the first place.

In either case, the bill was attached as a rider to the SAFE Port Act, a piece of legislation that was designed to increase security at our nation’s ports. Because there was no way a politician would vote against legislation that increased the country’s security, several representatives decided this was the perfect place to attach the UIGEA - thus sealing online gambling’s fate as a once-”legal” practice in the U.S.A.

Contrary to popular belief, the UIGEA didn’t actually outlaw online gambling like many people had first perceived. All it did was place the burden on US financial institutions to identify and block transactions to online gambling sites. Spokespeople in the banking industry have repeatedly stated that these regulations would be almost impossible to enforce because banks aren’t law enforcement agencies - they’re just banks!

Luckily for freedom and gambling aficionados, the UIGEA has proven itself to be basically toothless since its “inception” in 2006. It’s done absolutely nothing to stop US citizens from exercising their right to play poker online. Bad media reporting and false rumors about it being illegal to play poker online have done more to curb online gambling than the UIGEA could ever hope to do.

In response to these ridiculous regulations, a group called the Poker Player’s Alliance (PPA) was formed to battle unconstitutional laws like the UIGEA. So far the PPA has grown to have over 1,000,000 members and has continued its huge trend of growth since it was founded shortly after the UIGEA was put into effect by our lawmakers. If you support online poker, I strongly recommend you check out the PPA Website.

The PPA was formed as a non-profit organization and strives to introduce poker-friendly legislation at the federal and state level. Their ultimate goal is to protect our freedoms by repealing unconstitutional legislation and getting online poker licensed and regulated in the United States. So far the PPA has made great gains in all areas and we can only hope they continue to keep up the great work and putting up the good fight for poker players and gamblers alike.

If you’re a poker player in the United States, you don’t need to worry about online poker being illegal. Remember, the UIGEA targeted financial institutions, not individual poker players. So far, there hasn’t been a single case of a person being prosecuted for playing online poker. Many poker sites still accept players from the US, and you can click on any of the rooms below to go straight to their respective reviews:

PokerStars ||  Full Tilt Poker ||  Cake Poker ||  Aced Poker ||  BetUS Poker

This section will be continually updated with more UIGEA News as it comes to us.