Beginning of the End Here for UIGEA Online Casino Ban

20 February 2009

Barney Frank will author legislation to repeal the UIGEA ban on online casinos in the next month, a spokesman for the US Representative said today. Responding to news that the European Union may ask the World Trade Organization to punish the US for uneven and protectionist policies on the online casino industry, Frank's office promised a bill is nigh to remove the offending and problematic law.

Frank has tried strenuously to free US residents to make their own choice whether to gamble on the Internet. But this year, with a Democratic advantage in both Houses and a friendly administration in the White House, Frank is considered likely to succeed at passing his bill and getting it signed into law.

Legislators worried about constituents who consider gambling immoral can still justify voting to open the US market to Internet casinos as necessary economically, both to meet US obligations to free international trade and to create a significant new revenue stream for the government.

A Frank bill that repeals the UIGEA would probably effectively settle the disputes ongoing with both Antigua and the European Union. While Antigua has already been awarded damages, the reopening of the US market would be a far greater prize economically than any settlement for the WTO award that the case might wither and disappear.