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August 1 - iMEGA (the Interactive Media and Entertainment Gaming Association) is a Washington not-for-profit group that was founded this year primarily to stop the dreaded UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act ) from being implemented in the United States, thereby restricting American's freedom to gamble online.
Yesterday, iMEGA filed an extremely important legal brief in New Jersey seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the US Dept. of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve from implementing the Act. This is the first step in advance of a full-on challenge to the constitutionality of the law.
The brief itself makes compelling reading and is available online here.
iMEGA has the veiled support of the banks who clearly do not want to lose billions of dollars; the cost to them for becoming the government's watchdogs on this matter. It has been reported that the banks are not financing iMEGA directly.
It is certainly in the interests of huge online gambling firms such as PokerStars, FullTilt, and Bodog that this petition is ultimately successful. One hopes that these privately held companies are putting big money behind iMEGA because a lengthy court case that takes a couple of years to resolve itself would end up generating huge profits for them. Hint hint! The industry was already blindsided once and cannot afford to be lax and complacent again.
Without getting into the legal intricacies of the arguments against UIGEA's constitutionality it is clear that there is at the very least a reasonable case that can be presented against the US government.
One feels, however, that with the current weighting of the US Supreme Court: Pro-Bush 5 - Enlightened Human Beings 4 that a plea based on the liberty of US citizens under the First Amendment will almost certainly fail.
The WTO rulings against the USA and the threat of future sanctions may carry more weight, but a lot will depend on the strength of the banking-lobby in Washington to ensure that this Act is somehow stonewalled into oblivion.
The depressing conclusion is that superior legal arguments, the blatantly illogical position of the government in favoring certain forms of online gambling while banning others, and the refusal to allow US citizens to spend their own money in the way that they see fit will all be meaningless but may buy lobbyists enough time to do things the American way - make a bigger payoff than the first group of guys in order to make the UIGEA go away.
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