The recent US legislation, prohibiting US banks and credit card companies from processing payments for illegal online casino gambling has a major flaw concerning the banks' cooperation. Some of the apparent non compliances we will see will not stem out of a conspiracy with an online casino, or out of a lack of will, but it seems that many banks do not have what it takes to stop processing the money, technologically speaking.
Banks will be ordered to track and block millions of transactions that are on their way to the online casino but many cannot do so as they were not designed to handle such actions, let alone hundreds of thousands of them. Luckily, the legislation specifically states that if the bank is technologically unable to coincide with the demand to halt payments to the online casino, provided they operating innocently, they will not be held liable.
The legislation, attached to an unrelated port security bill, was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Friday and by the U.S. Senate early Saturday. It is expected to be signed into law by President George W. Bush. Many companies are feeling the heat, and shares in online casino companies such as Party Gaming PLC, 888 Holdings PLC and Sporting bet PLC, plunged Monday. The online casino companies said they would suspend business from the United States if the legislation is enacted. |
