When Congress returns from their August break, Texas Congressman Pete Sessions will be introducing his House of Representatives Bill to the Congress. The new bill is called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Clarification and Implementation Act of 2008, or HR6663, and it was created to explain exactly what is “unlawful” according to the UIGEA. Sessions, a republican, already has three congressman supporting his bill. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, William Delahunt of Maryland and Marion Berry of Arkansas are behind the bill.

The Bill will try and prohibit prosecution of online gambling charges or financial crimes related to any Company or single person affiliated with a Company who stopped taking bets from the United States after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed. This one section of the bill would benefit many Companies who exited the United States online gambling industry after the UIGEA was passed in 2006. The Bill also covers whether online poker and other similar games are legal in the United States.

An excerpt from the Bill Reads: “Federal Internet gambling prosecutions have involved sports betting, creating a lack of authoritative court decisions on the applicability of other Federal criminal statutes to Internet poker and casino-style gambling.”

Companies who did take bets, before or after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed, over sporting events, will still face legal consequences. The Bill states that the focus should be on sports gambling. It could be early September, when Congress begins to discuss the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Clarification and Implementation Act submitted by Sessions. The Bill has been submitted to the House Committee on the Judiciary. Other, similar Bills have been submitted to the Committee as well and they all should be reviewed around the same time.


- 2008-08-08