After an article was published by the Dow Jones Newswire, word spread like wildfire through the online poker world that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had received the final regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) on October 21st. The regulations may be enacted before the end of the 2008 calendar year. The UIGEA was signed into law on Friday, October 13th, 2006 by outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush.
The UIGEA was passed in the waning moments of the 2006 Congressional session and attached to the Safe Port Act, an unrelated measure dealing with port security. The bill was not voted on in the United States Senate and instead passed by unanimous consent. In a move reminiscent of the 2006 actions by former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who pushed the UIGEA through at the last minute, the Bush administration is urging for these regulations to be enacted before it departs at the end of 2008. The Dow Jones Newswire article states, “It’s standard practice for outgoing administrations to finalize controversial regulations before leaving office, a practice known as a midnight drop.”
Regulations drafted last year, which were open to public comment, lacked clarity as to what the phrase “unlawful internet gambling” meant. John Pappas, President of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), told Poker News Daily that although the organization does not have a copy of the final regulations given to the OMB by the U.S. Treasury, to his knowledge this concern was still not met. In addition, he commented on why there is a renewed interest in the UIGEA just three days following the 2008 general elections: “The rush is that the Bush administration is trying to put a final stamp on public policy before they leave much in the way that the UIGEA was passed in the dark of night.”
The final UIGEA regulations reached the OMB on October 21st. Agencies had a deadline of November 1st to submit any pending measures. Pappas gives a glimpse into the forthcoming timeline: “The key date is to finalize the rules before November 19th. That way they go through the standard 60 day review process, after which they can be implemented.” The reason for the date of November 19th is that newly elected President Barack Obama will be inaugurated on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009, just outside of the 60 day review window. This means that he will not be able to intervene in this or any other regulations that are finalized before November 19th.
According to the Dow Jones story, Pappas is scheduled to meet with OMB officials today. He told Poker News Daily, “The rules themselves do not comply with the standards and rules of our government.” The PPA has been actively campaigning against the regulations since they reached the OMB two and a half weeks ago.
Ed Leyden, President of the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA), whose organization is suing to declare the UIGEA unconstitutional, noted that even if the final regulations included a clear-cut definition of what is legal and illegal under the UIGEA, the process of defining what is acceptable is the responsibility of Congress, not the Executive Branch: “The legislature writes the law, not the Executive Branch. The UIGEA does not change existing law. They would be rewriting a new federal statute that defines what ‘unlawful internet gambling’ is and would be violating the UIGEA itself in the process.” The UIGEA defers to existing internet gambling law to determine what is and is not legal.
Formal statements by the PPA and Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative (SSIGI) may be released this afternoon. We’ll have more information on this developing story as it unfolds right here on Poker News Daily.
