Over the past year, I've written extensively - some would say obsessively - about the UIGEA. But one topic I've never really covered is an in-depth discussion about the exact legal implications of the law.
This might sound like a huge oversight, but I have a great defense.
The fact is that until the UIGEA rules were finalized yesterday, there were NO exact legal implications to discuss. Trying to describe the UIGEA's details was like trying to describe air.
The main problem was that the UIGEA did not define what was illegal.
Think about that for a moment. The official name of the law is the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act", only the law forgot to mention what was illegal. A small oversight.
In short, they passed a law that outlawed, well... something, but they really weren't sure exactly what. Basically, if somebody is willing to call something Internet gambling, then the law would be willing to make it unlawful.
They might as well have called it the "
If You Smelt It, You Dealt It Act", or the
IYSIYDIA, but I digress.
Anyway, it was this overriding vagueness that has caused everybody from the American banking industry to the Federal Reserve to the House Committee on Financial Services to all question the enforceability of the law and who exactly would be responsible for the enforcement.
Well,
as I have been writing about for the last couple of days, the Bush administration finally got around to finalizing the law yesterday, promising details to answer those questions.
Result: FAIL!
But let's not leave it to me to describe. Instead, I will direct you to
Compatible Poker, which today featured a concise analysis of the new improved UIGEA by well-known gambling lawyer,
I. Nelson Rose.
Wow. For all of the buildup and controversy this law is garnering in the mainstream press, you'd think the administration would try to create something that would at least be worth the effort of an appeal or injunction.
Nope. Instead, it looks like the Bushies have reached a new low.
Not only are they jamming through a law that on its face pisses off all of the above-mentioned interested parties, but they managed to neuter it to the point that it's uselessness will piss off all of the God-fearing and/or land-based gambling groups it was supposed to please.
Not only that, but Mr. Rose appears to have found that the finalized UIGEA might actually introduce new loopholes that might actually make it easier for some gambling companies to legally re-establish links with American banks.
Swing. Miss. Strikeout.
Or maybe... Worst. President. Ever.