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Old 06-01-2010, 08:34 AM  
Ravage
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Toronto
Posts: 2,242
Not much will change that hasn't already been happening the past four years.
The day the bill was passed shadily on the back of the Safe Port Act, the FBI has been arresting and confiscating gaming funds.

They arrested the founders of NETeller the moment they landed in the US to catch a connecting flight. That sent shockwaves throughout the gaming industry to the point nobody A) flies into the US and b) routes their money thru US intermediaries.
A lot of it was based on working to enforce the old wire act and money laundering, but the UIGEA pushed the resolve forward now that they had this bill passed.

Online poker companies tried to make a stand saying they weren't gaming, but got bitchslapped and funds seized.

The US had an opportunity to make a shit-ton of money on tax/fees, similar to how the EU imposed the VAT onto gaming transactions. Instead, they choose to listen to bible-thumping govenors and sneak the UIGEA on the back of a bill that was going to get signed no matter what. One can't help wonder if they went ahead and legalized it, charged taxes, how much it would have lessened the blow on the economy.

In 05/06, online gambling was hitting a consolidation phase. Public gaming corporations were forming and purchasing up smaller ones, like SportsBet and VIP etc. The industry was pushing for more legitamecy and the law destroyed that.
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