Quote:
Originally Posted by Killedontheriver
Don't forget which party pushed through the Unlawful Gambling act as an attachment to a bill in late december... Thank You Republicans. The irony is, Republicans try to position themselves as the Party that will give you LESS government, yet all they want to do is tell you what you can and can't (abortion issue, same sex marriage issue, and on and on) in the sanctity of your home.
The UIGEA has almost nothing to do with the situation American players find themselves in today, though UIGEA charges (accepting/processing deposits from US players) were included in the BF indictments.
It was the IGBA seizures of player (withdrawal) funds from 2009 through BF, and the use of the IGBA as a predicate to seek a $1B civil forfeiture penalty that caused this situation.
All the UIGEA authorized the government to do is seize the domains of companies caught violating it, and file criminal charges against individuals who conspired to violate it, it had nothing to do with FTP's financial problems.
The Bush administration DOJ testified before Congress that none of the existing laws (Wire Act, IGBA etc) or their forfeiture features were useful against offshore (non-sports betting - Wire Act) internet gambling sites, so a new law was needed to curtail the activity, that new law, the UIGEA, did not authorize the forfeiture of any funds.
It wasn't until June 2009 that the IGBA was first used to seize internet poker player funds, six months after the Republican administration left office, six months after AG appointee Holder testified before congress that he would use every tool at his disposal to target all offshore internet gambling.
It was the Obama administration DOJ's reinterpretation of the IGBA (a law designed to give the Federal government jurisdiction over entirely intrastate illegal gambling businesses) to apply to entirely international offshore poker sites that caused the situation which they are now professing to be doing us the favor of 'fixing', by returning the player money ($155M in FTP seizures alone) which they didn't have a lawful basis to seize in the first place.
The UIGEA sucked, it made it inconvenient to deposit and scared away publicly traded sites and many fish, but had almost nothing to do with BF or the downfall of FTP.