July 22nd, 2008
excerpt:
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently has gone after Internet poker businesses with a vengeance—even though it may not have the authority to do so—driving many of them overseas. Now the House of Representatives is considering legislation to tell the Justice Department to leave Internet poker businesses alone. So would that constitute a needed clarification of jurisdictional authority? Sadly, no. The same statutory ambiguities that the Justice Department is now using to drive Internet poker out of America are in the proposed bill.
The Skill Game Protection Act (SGPA, H.R. 2610), sponsored by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), seeks to clarify that games of skill that are played on the Internet, like Internet poker, are both legal and regulated. The bill would amend two statutes—the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and the 1961 Wire Act. These are the two principal federal statutes outlawing interstate betting and wagering over the telephone or the Internet, mainly by making it illegal for businesses to transfer gambling-related funds.
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Can Someone Deal Internet Poker a Good Hand? | CEI
Author Contact Info: Arin Greenwood, CEI
