Bush White House Breaking Promise to Enforce Internet Casino Ban
A commotion is rising due to the decision last week to finalize regulations implementing the UIGEA. The decision by the Treasury to send the rules to the Office of Management and Budget has startled political observers, and made many ask why this was being pushed as the Bush administration leaves office.
It's been revealed that Bush officials had made a commitment not to finalize regulations in any Department after November 1st. Only under "extraordinary circumstances" were new rules to be put in place before the Obama team takes over.
The failure in the instance of online casinos and the UIGEA to honor this promise has led to speculation regarding the involvement of William Wichterman in the sudden movement by Treasury officials. Wichterman is currently White House Deputy Director of Public Liaison, but until March was paid by the National Football League to lobby for retaining and implementing the UIGEA.
Jeffrey Sandman, spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, said, "We are skeptical of the Administration's motivation to get this done at the very last minute, especially given the apparent involvement of a NFL lobbyist turned Bush appointee.
"The Bush Administration is setting a horrible precedent of pushing through flawed regulations at the very last minute to deliberately circumvent the in-coming administration.The special interests, including the NFL, are clearly the big winners with this last minute maneuver, leaving already struggling banks and financial companies to implement costly and poorly crafted regulations."
Hopefully, the uproar in the online casino industry will continue to spread into mainstream spotlights, so that these regulations will be noticed by Obama officials. Incoming members of the Obama circle have already promised to aggressively reverse executive orders and regulations put in place by exiting Bush officials.
There is no issue which more represents Obama's commitments to both keep the Internet free and open, and to remove the influence of lobbyists and special interests.
