Barney Frank, the U.S. Congressman, in effort to overturn the 2006 UIGEA, reintroduced his “Payment Systems Protection Act of 2008”. Frank himself, who is the chairman of the House Financial Services, considers the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act a very stupid law and he is amazed about the fact that such a law could have ever passed. He already tried to bring up anti-UIGEA legislation, with the bill HR5767, but because of the committee vote, he didn’t succeed.
In the latest edition of Frank’s bill, he criticise directly the UIGEA. The US federal agencies which are responsible for the implementation of the UIGEA are the Department of the Treasury and the Financial Reserve Board. The HR 6870, the new bill, will try to prohibit these two US federal agencies to extend the UIGEA’s reach beyond the outlawed areas, like for example sports wagering. Besides, Frank tries to suspend the current UIGEA code with his HR 6870 bill until an administrative law judge works with the two responsible federal agencies and develops some workable regulations.
The current Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act places an unfunded mandate to the US banking system to block many internet related gambling transactions.
Frank fights against the UIGEA with his bill and he already found his first co-sponsor for his bill, Rep. Peter King.
