A leading online casino group, which offers P2P (person-to-person) sills games, has officially announced the closing of its operations regarding US online casino players. The online casinos firm will no longer provide skill games products to the American market. The reason for this drastic decision has to do with the recent passing of the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act which bans financial companies from conducting transactions for US online casino players.
President George W. Bush signed the UIGEA into law during the beginning of October 2006. He did so for the sole purpose of detracting transactions between financial institutions and online gaming companies and online casino players. This essentially made online gambling in the US illegal. The UIGEA pertains to all online casino games which are subject to chance, and contains no exemptions for skill-based gaming.
'Skill-based online gaming is and will remain a grey area under the UIGEA until tested under federal US law. It's an orange suit and manacles that you can look forward to if you decide to test the DOJ's interpretation of skill versus chance gaming. To some extent the decision has been made for us as the source of fund transfers from the US dries up. Closing access to US-resident real money players was a hard decision, but a sensible one,' said Kevin Dale, the CEO of the online casino group. It goes without saying that the US online casino players who frequented this online gambling site will now have to search elsewhere to place their bets.
When the online casino firm finally made the decision to cease US operations, it was after following detailed legal advice. The decision also reflects the interest of its licensee sports book partners, shareholders and directors, while also removing even the smallest chance over the threat of prosecution. This online casino is the first skill-based gaming operator to take responsible measures against American clients. It is also breaking partnerships developed with US facing companies. |
