Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 “one of the stupidest things” he has ever seen.
On Tuesday, Frank will get a chance to further push that message in Washington when a Congressional hearing will be heard at 10 a.m. ET by the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology.
Barney, the Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, wants to legalize online gambling in the U.S. and has proposed the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA) to help make that happen.
"The hearing is going to show - I want to show - that it's not that the regulations weren't done well," said Frank of the UIGEA. "It's that they can't be done well given the inherent nature of the issue."
Frank wants online gaming regulated by the Department of Treasury. Currently under the UIGEA, banks and financial institutions carry that burden when it comes to stopping Americans from gambling online illegally.
The UIGEA bans the use of credit card and other monetary transactions that bettors use to fund online casino, sportsbook and poker accounts. That leaves the banks to block and monitor those transactions and one of the criticisms of the bill is that it interferes with normal banking business.
The bill was slipped under the radar, hidden in the Port Securities Act in 2006 and there has been controversy since.
Frank’s IGREA gives an exemption to the UIGEA and would allow Americans to wager online. The bill has generated dozens of supporters among Frank’s fellow Congressmen and women and has picked up steam over the past several months.
To check out blogs on this and other important issues for gamblers, check out Covers.com's Freedom at Stake space.