US Moves to Block Facts in Online Casino Ban Court Case
The US Department of Justice filed to prevent the introduction of new evidence in the iMEGA case seeking the striking of the UIGEA. The lead attorney for the US, Nicholas Bagley, asked that news of state lottery sales being incorrectly disrupted by the online casino ban not be permitted into the court record.The government's position is that the irregularites caused by UIGEA implementation do not significantly alter the case, and are not pertinent to the iMEGA complaint. The information was not contained in the previous hearing before a district court, Bagley wrote in the filing.
“The regulations didn’t exist two years ago when this was brought to the district court," said iMega chairman Joe Brennan, Jr. Brennan contends that the new facts confirm the unintended effects of the UIGEA iMEGA predicted in its lawsuit.
"I know that the DoJ doesn’t like to lose, but to suggest that this is not ‘germane’ to the case - how the law actually works in the real world - is simply ridiculous," Brennan states on the iMEGA website.
Several states have found online credit card sales of lottery tickets blocked by credit card companies. The banks are acting out of consternation about undefined elements of the UIGEA, including a definition of illegal online gambling.
Even though the incidents directly support the case's contentions of flaws in the Internet gambling prohibition, the government wants to suppress the evidence because it didn't exist when the case was filed. It ignores the fact that the adverse results would have been avoided altogether with removal of the UIGEA. As one observer noted, "They need to remember... they're supposed to be the Department of Justice."
