The United States Treasury and the Federal Reserve issued a joint statement confirming that the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) will be postponed for a period of at least six months.
Although the Treasury is deferring the implementation of the UIGEA rules to June 1, 2010 in order to allow financial institutions and banks time to get organized and attempt to adapt themselves to the law by this date, supporters of online gambling are hoping that politicians will be successful in getting their anti-UIGEA pushed through to the Senate during this period.
Representative Barney Frank has been trying to overturn the UIGEA in the US and in his comments on the delay said: “This will give us a chance to act in an unhurried manner on my legislation to undo this regulatory excess by the Bush administration and to undo this ill-advised law."
The Chief Executive of the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC), who has also been attempting to prevent the banning of online gambling, said, "IGC hopes that the U.S. Congress will use the intervening time to move U.S. law away from the ambiguous attempts at prohibition contained in UIGEA, and toward a rational policy of licensing and regulation…" He also praised Barney Frank for his role in securing the postponement.
However, Republicans Jon Kyl and Spencer Bachus were amongst many who opposed the deferral. They were quoted as saying "Simply delaying the compliance date serves no interest except that of the Internet gambling enterprises."