Though many other foreign casinos are giving up, PartyGaming continues to lobby Washington in a push to legalize online gambling in America. Though many are optimistic of Congress’s chances of overturning the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), certain language in the bills to do so have worried overseas companies. In Congress, UIGEA is being attacked on two fronts: a bill in the Senate introduced by Roberto Menendez and a bill in the House of Representatives proposed by Barney Frank. Both bills, it was learned last week, include a provision that could exclude overseas casinos from doing business with American citizens. Menendez’s bill, the Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, or cleverly called IPGSRCPEA, contains a clause allowing the Treasury Department to reject applicants who fail to file “a federal or state tax return…owed to a jurisdiction in which the applicant operates or does business.” Frank’s House bill, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, which often goes by the acronym IGRCPEA (What? They can’t all be as clever as the PATRIOT Act), has a similar phrase.

The problem is that PartyGaming is based in Gibraltar, which last time I checked is not a jurisdiction that pays income tax to the United States. Other overseas online gambling companies have taken this seemingly “buy American” clause to mean that they will not be able to do business in the States. So it seems that Congress is all about protecting the people’s right to gamble their money online, unless of course they want to deal with one of them foreigners. I understand overseas online casinos being unhappy with the buy-American clause, but in this economy, it’s every man for himself. America needs to protect itself and its people, and keeping the gambling money in our country is a good idea. If only they can convince the customer service departments for computer manufacturers. PartyGaming is unphased, though, and continues to lobby on Capitol Hill (Wait, I thought Obama said there would be no more lobbyists in Washington!). They are confident that they can convince Congress to remove the clause from the bills. Since the government operates the same way as the mafia, paying a little money could get them all they need. Only time will tell if PartyGaming has a big enough checkbook.