A brand new industry group, based in Washington D.C., and called the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA), this week has filed suit against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Reserve, seeking to stop enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
Signed into law last fall by President George W. Bush, the new law prohibits banks, credit card companies and other services from "processing" online gambling transactions for U.S. customers. Transactions by foreign customers can still be cleared. U.S. customers who wish to gamble on the Internet have to seek foreign credit cards or alternative payment options to do so, experts said.
The federal lawsuit calls the law an infringement on "basic constitutional rights," and references a recent World Trade Organization ruling against the U.S., which determined that the U.S. ban on Internet gambling "unfairly inhibited trade" with the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, where many famous Internet casinos are located.
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"The purpose of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is to prevent Americans from engaging in their fundamental rights to conduct their lives in the manner they wish to live it -- to be free from the government imposing public morality in the privacy of one's home," said Eric M. Bernstein, an attorney for iMEGA.The iMEGA lawsuit comes six weeks after Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, which would allow for regulated, licensed online gambling in the U.S. Another U.S. Congressman this week introduced a bill that deregulates online poker and other games of skill, and Rep. Frank is said to be supportive of that legislation. The U.S. is famous for settling legislative disputes in the courts, such as the concern over the legalization of abortion, which was decided in the Roe v. Wade case in 1973, after years of litigation.
According to Edward Leyden, president of iMEGA, the lawsuit may encourage "regulation and taxation" of Internet gaming. Without transparency, American consumers who gamble online are left without standards of practice or consumer protections, he said.
"Two major benefits come immediately from U.S. recognition and regulation of Internet gaming; transparency and tax revenues,” said Leyden. “As with the U.S. financial markets, transparency assures that broad access to relevant data and the balancing forces of a free market all operate to maintain fairness and prevent corruption. Similarly, in this age of a yawning federal "tax gap," U.S. taxation of Internet gaming transactions and companies could generate, more than $20 billion during the next several years."
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