Ban on U.S. Player Signups Wider than Vegas Affiliates (Update)

November 6, 2008 (InfoPowa News) — It appears that the ban on new U.S. player sign-ups at Microgaming-powered online casinos and poker rooms is wider than the Vegas Affiliates communication reported earlier. The number of reports that other licensees are following a similar path is growing, and although no comment has yet been made by the Isle of Man-based gambling software provider, it is becoming clear that the decision to curtail U.S. player sign-ups is wider than was at first thought.
 
Speculation on where the decision originated is perhaps at this point irrelevant, but there are conflicting opinions. Some suggest that the initiative came from licensees — online casino and poker room operators concerned about the increasing legal confusion, risk, e-cash problems and unpredictable happenings like the Kentucky issue that have made conducting a professional business in the United States increasingly difficult. Others have posted on forums that the move originated with Microgaming but has the full support of licensees.
 
What is clear is that, effective next Monday November 10, Microgaming-powered operations will no longer accept new U.S. registrations, and that is a lose-lose situation for Internet players, affiliates, and operators alike.  
 
It could be seen as a victory of sorts to the U.S. politicians and bureaucrats who greedily sanction other forms of gambling and even make exceptions for online horseracing and state lotteries, but persist in villifying the Internet variety of wagering.
 
Whether the moratorium on new sign-ups is permanent or not remains to be seen, and could be influenced by the result of appeals against the judge's astonishing rulings in the domain seizure cases in Kentucky.