Last week all American visitors of online casino sites heard some awful news that came from such US states as Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In our previous articles we have already described you a complicated situation on the American gambling market nowadays, when citizens of one state can gamble without any problems while residents of some other states are strictly punished for this kind of entertainment. Massachusetts and New Hampshire didn’t force any restriction on the online gambling industry on their territories. Before now.
It seems extremely logical that in the times of a tough economic recession US online casino sites can help to cover the gaps in the state budgets. However, the legislators of Massachusetts don’t really think so. Massachusetts House of Representative has issued a bill aimed at making online wagering illegal. It says that all residents of Massachusetts should be prosecuted for involvement into online gambling even if the gambling facility is located outside of the state. The visiting of gambling sites, installation of gambling g software on PCs, smart phones or other devices will be considered illegal if this bill becomes a law. For breaking this law Massachusetts residents will be punished by detention in a jail for a period of 2 years and less or will have to pay a weighty fine that equals $25 thousand or less. All visitors of online casinos sites in Massachusetts are keeping their fingers crossed that this crazy bill won’t be enforced. However, who knows?
And the second bad news came to us from New Hampshire State. Everything began quite cheerfully there, as the matter of fact. The Governor of New Hampshire John Lynch introduced a bill aimed at the legalization of internet wagering. This bill was expected to become a law shortly, however some severe obstacles appeared on its way last week. The problem is that the Governor acts really inconsistently. Last week he opposed a bill aimed at legalizing brick-and-mortar gambling establishments on the territory of New Hampshire. And he grounded such a decision by saying that table games and slot machines facilitate the spreading of gambling among American citizens. Right now all forces who were supporting this bill about land-based casino games are against legalization of online gambling, claiming that it can also lead to the proliferation of wagering. There are numerous organizations that oppose online gambling in New Hampshire, so it’s really hard to say which party will win the fight in the end.
As for the legislative situation on the US gambling market in general, couple days ago the last hearing of two laws intended at postponing the enforcement of the UIGEA Act and legalizing online gambling on the territory of the USA didn’t lead to any remarkable results. As far as you know, Barney Frank, the House Representative, introduce two bill intended to facilitate the legislative situation on American casino market. The main point is that all the rules specified in the UIGEA are almost impossible to implement by American banks that are experiencing a hard time due to the economic crisis anyway. The next hearing in the House Committee is scheduled for April 16 and we will be anticipating for the results. Only after that hearing both bills can be transferred to the House for voting. All visitors of online casino sites in the United States are hoping for the best.
The UIGEA Act passed in 2006 was postponed and should be enforced in July 2010. Nobody knows what’s gonna happen with US online casino sites if no further postponement will be accepted.
