November 11, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — Some of the most powerful Republicans in the United States Senate — namely, Minority Whip Jon Kyl and ranking member of the Financial Services Committee , Spencer Bachus — have formally asked Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to not delay implementation the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), a three-year-old ban against Internet gambling in the United States that some Democrats have been trying to block.
"There is no justification for delaying the compliance date for the long-overdue regulations implementing UIGEA," wrote Bachus and Kyl in the letter.
The National Journal provides a summary: “If the final rule represented an ‘unreasonable burden on regulators and the financial services industry,’ as some lawmakers have claimed, the Treasury and Federal Reserve could have reconsidered the regulations early in the new administration and before the industry began taking steps to comply.” Since this didn’t happen, and since the financial services sector has not directly petitioned to have the rule amended, the UIGEA should be enforced as written.
The law is scheduled to go into effect December 1.
Meanwhile, opposition remains strong, with the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) recently praising Democratic Congressman Jared Polis for writing an editorial called “Online Gambling Ban Has Failed, Should be Ended”. Click here to read that editorial; click here to read the PPA’s statement; and click here to read the National Journal article cited above.