The bill is deliberately vague in its language, and states that a "financial transaction provider" must block payments to online gambling companies. Both Firepay and Neteller would be considered to be "financial transaction providers". This langauge will be deliberate, as many, if not most, credit companies stopped allowing transfers to online gambling operations a while ago, and so Firepay and Neteller have been very heavily used in recent years. This bill aims to stop that.
Of course, the question is whether Firepay and Neteller would comply. Given they have no physical presence in the US, they are beyond US regulatory control. Neteller, for example, is based in the Isle of Man. Would the Isle of Man judiciary enforce an order on one of its own companies that is served up by the US? Will be interesting to see what happens.
Neither the credit card companies, nor the electronic money transfer agents (e.g. Neteller, Firepay), nor the online poker companies (e.g. PartyGaming, Poker Stars, Paradise), nor the sportbetting companies (e.g. Sportingbet, etc.) thought the bill would pass.
They mostly predicted it would pass the House, but stall at the Senate owing to various objections from well-lobbied Senators.
But what they didn't expect was the underhand way in which Frist would wait until the very last minute before recess (when everyone was tired and just wanted to break up to start campaigning) and attach it to a piece of legislation that no-one was going to object to (i.e. an anti-terrorist act).
Many of the Senators had not even had a chance to read the bill that they ended up voting through by a majority of 470 to 2.
Hang, it's a lot more serious than that post suggests. It has been passed in the Senate, and will become law after the usual 270-day period require to flesh out the details of the law, its enforcement, etc.
The bill will make it illegal for "financial transaction providers" (e.g. banks, credit cards, etc.) to allow transactions to online gambling sites. It also appears to require that "interactive computer services" (perhaps hosting companies or ISPs?) remove or disable access to online gambling sites. You can read the full text of the law in this document (from page 213 onwards).
Although horse racing and lotteries are exempted, the bill will indirectly make it illegal to do things like play poker online, or make bets on sporting events. Many million Americans enjoy doing either or both of those, but this bill will make it all but impossible for them to find their online accounts, and so effectively put a stop to it. It's going to affect a lot of companies (e.g. the large gaming sites like PartyGaming, Paradise Poker, PokerStars etc, and also the numerous betting sites), but more importantly it's going to prevent many people from enjoying the odd game of poker with some friends, or making a bet or two on a soccer game.
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The bill is deliberately vague in its language, and states that a "financial transaction provider" must block payments to online gambling companies. Both Firepay and Neteller would be considered to be "financial transaction providers". This langauge will be deliberate, as many, if not most, credit companies stopped allowing transfers to online gambling operations a while ago, and so Firepay and Neteller have been very heavily used in recent years. This bill aims to stop that.
Of course, the question is whether Firepay and Neteller would comply. Given they have no physical presence in the US, they are beyond US regulatory control. Neteller, for example, is based in the Isle of Man. Would the Isle of Man judiciary enforce an order on one of its own companies that is served up by the US? Will be interesting to see what happens.
Neither the credit card companies, nor the electronic money transfer agents (e.g. Neteller, Firepay), nor the online poker companies (e.g. PartyGaming, Poker Stars, Paradise), nor the sportbetting companies (e.g. Sportingbet, etc.) thought the bill would pass.
They mostly predicted it would pass the House, but stall at the Senate owing to various objections from well-lobbied Senators.
But what they didn't expect was the underhand way in which Frist would wait until the very last minute before recess (when everyone was tired and just wanted to break up to start campaigning) and attach it to a piece of legislation that no-one was going to object to (i.e. an anti-terrorist act).
Many of the Senators had not even had a chance to read the bill that they ended up voting through by a majority of 470 to 2.
Hang, it's a lot more serious than that post suggests. It has been passed in the Senate, and will become law after the usual 270-day period require to flesh out the details of the law, its enforcement, etc. The bill will make it illegal for "financial transaction providers" (e.g. banks, credit cards, etc.) to allow transactions to online gambling sites. It also appears to require that "interactive computer services" (perhaps hosting companies or ISPs?) remove or disable access to online gambling sites. You can read the full text of the law in this document (from page 213 onwards). Although horse racing and lotteries are exempted, the bill will indirectly make it illegal to do things like play poker online, or make bets on sporting events. Many million Americans enjoy doing either or both of those, but this bill will make it all but impossible for them to find their online accounts, and so effectively put a stop to it. It's going to affect a lot of companies (e.g. the large gaming sites like PartyGaming, Paradise Poker, PokerStars etc, and also the numerous betting sites), but more importantly it's going to prevent many people from enjoying the odd game of poker with some friends, or making a bet or two on a soccer game.