An interesting read in the US publication The Motely Fool caught my attention recently when an article criticizing the US’ UIGEA laws made print. Known for its sometimes irreverent view of matters investment and financial, The Motely Fool is a well respected rag in the US, so it’s generally anti-UIGEA stance is noteworthy.

Concentrating on the welcome efforts by Congressman Barney Frank to have UIGEA reformed to regulate and license internet gambling, the article points out some of the more obvious inequities brought about by the law. In particular, the article points to the glaring unfairness that allows state-run lotteries and horse race gambling to run businesses over the net, but not foreign online gambling operators and online payment processors.

People who have been reading this blog will already know that the online bingo industry went from being one of the healthiest and fastest growing niches in online gaming only to lose a massive portion of its market once operating online bingo halls for US customers became untenable.

It seems a growing number of US mainstream publications are beginning to recognize UIGEA as an awful mistake. My favourite line from Motely Foll’s commentary piece:

“…I understand that the you-scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours nature of lawmaking in this country can be like a protection racket. Here, it seems to have aided big operators like Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN), Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), and MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM), while completely disregarding the (mostly) law-abiding online poker players.â€?

Exactly how those US citizens who play online bingo must feel.

Written by John Witherspoon - Play bingo online at http://bingostreet.com/ and read bingo news.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 3:07 am and is filed under Online Bingo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.