New bill seeks to restrict UIGEA - PokerListings.com

Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul moved to diminish the effect the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement act this week by introducing a bill that would restrict the ability of the authorities to ban online gambling.

H.R. 5767 would prohibit the Department of Treasury and Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing or implementing any regulations related to the current ban on Internet gambling, as required by the UIGEA.

"These regulations are impossible to implement without placing a significant burden on the payments system and financial institutions," said Frank in a statement on Friday.

The controversial UIGEA was passed way back in October of 2006 as a part of the SAFE port act. Detractors say the act is not only impossible to enforce but the government is missing out billions of dollars of tax revenue if the industry was regulated by the U.S. government.

Paul took issue with two main points of the online gambling bill: 1. Americans should have the ability to do with their money as they see fit and 2. The government should not interfere with the internet.

"This is another pernicious trend that has accelerated in the aftermath of the Patriot Act, the deputization of private businesses to perform intrusive enforcement and surveillance functions that the federal government is unwilling to perform on its own," Paul said in a statement.

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