House committee asked to repeal UIGEA
Posted on: February 2nd, 2011 3:21 pm | By: Jeremy SchruteIn November, Republicans swept through Congress in a historic thrashing with the promise of righting the wrongs, getting government out of the way, and getting America back on track to being successful and productive. The Republicans that won seats in the House and Senate did so by promising to cut down on government regulation and spending that is strangling businesses and stifling financial growth. Now it’s time to live up to that bill.
Republicans have already gone to work at repealing Obama’s health care law. A repeal bill passed the House but isn’t expected to pass the Senate. Darrell Issa, the new Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has asked businesses to submit their opinions on what laws and regulations are hindering business and job growth.
As you might expect, someone in the gambling industry was quick to bring up the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The Safe and Secure Gambling Initiative sent a letter to Issa stating that UIGEA has done nothing to reduce online gambling in the United States, while it has placed an unfair burden on the financial industry. According to Michael Waxman, Executive Director of the Safe and Secure Gambling Initiative, UIGEA has resulted in a loss of tens of thousands of U.S. jobs. Replacing UIGEA with a regulatory framework for online gambling would help the financial institutions, create jobs and prompt economic growth.
The idea that creating regulation would create jobs is usually ludicrous and an idea that Issa would laugh off. In this case, though, it would be replacing one form of regulation (UIGEA) with a different one (some federal gaming control board). UIGEA is undoubtedly hurting the financial industry, and considering that they’re already in bad shape and that Obama’s financial reform law will make things worse, they can use all the help they can get. Let’s hope Issa listens to Waxman’s letter. Chairman Issa has not yet given an opinion on the repeal of UIGEA.
Tags: gambling legislation, UIGEA
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