Court Questions Cause iMEGA Concerns on Online Gambling Case
Last week's hearing before the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals went in a direction that has representatives for the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association concerned over the possible resolution of the case. The organization's request to have the court strike down the UIGEA online gambling ban for vagueness was not greeted with inquiries in the areas expected.
While attorneys for iMEGA made sure to draw the judges' attention to the law's prohibition of payment processing for illegal online gambling without making online gambling illegal or defining what constitutes illegal Internet gambling, questions from the panel indicated a preoccupation with the location of an Internet bet.
According to the iMEGA website, the judges seemed to be inclined to define the bet as occurring at the player's computer, rather than at the servers where the bet is received.
"They (the court panel) bore down on us, and they went in a direction that, given the vagueness challenge we were making, seemed odd," says iMEGA chairman Joe Brennan, Jr. "Since the statute targets banks and credit card companies, it was unusual that there were no questions about them.”
Also undecided is whether the court will accept evidence that the UIGEA is already malfunctioning even before implementation, as state lottery Internet sales have been blocked since the original iMEGA filing. US attorneys are fighting to keep this evidence out of the case.
The court is expected to take at least weeks and possibly months to rule, and may even stay a decision to await a vote on Barney Frank's bill removing the online gambling ban. If the Frank bill passes, the case would be moot.
