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The study was published on March 27, 2008 by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a libertarian-leaning think tank.
"The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), passed in October of 2006, has little to do with gambling itself, but is actually a wide-ranging regulatory mandate on banks, credit unions, credit card companies, wire transfer services, and even brokerages," the report states.
Researchers indicate that the law forces financial institutions to stop dealing with firms engaged in online gambling.
But, the law is unlikely to stop Internet gambling and could even threaten the stable, smooth operation of America’s banking system, said Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer, author of the study, called Time to Fold the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act .
“UIGEA and its currently proposed enabling regulations will undermine the financial privacy of all Americans and reduce the security of their bank accounts. In short, it makes almost no financial, social, or economic sense," says Lehrer.
Many members of the U.S. Congress are aware of the problems with gambling ban. On April 2nd, the House Committee on Financial Services is scheduled to hold a hearing titled “Proposed UIGEA Regulations: Burden without Benefit?” to detail what has gone wrong with its implementation and how to fix it.
"Ideally, however, they would go much farther," says Lehrer.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has been proposing lifting the ban, and his proposal has gotten a lot of attention on Capitol Hill.
The ban on online gambling was passed, in the middle of the night, by the outgoing Republican Congress in late 2006.
“Even before it considers proposals for the regulation of online gambling, Congress should consider an outright repeal of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act,” says Lehrer. “The law has very little to do with gambling and serves as a poorly thought-out banking regulation fraught with potentially perverse incentives. Quite simply, it is a bad law. Repealing it makes sense.”
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