Kyl Counters Anti-UIGEA efforts, Wants List of Online Poker & Online Gambling Firms' Bank Accounts

Parallel to the publicity that Congressman Barney Frank's initiative to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is getting recently, Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) used a Senate Judiciary Committee enquiry last week to forward his anti-online gambling agenda.

In spite of the enquiry being about the dismissal of 8 US Attorneys for inappropriate conduct, Kyl used his time to question US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to push for specific Administrative Regulations for enforcing the UIGEA.

Lawrence G. Walters of Weston, Garrou, DeWitt & Walters, of GameAttorneys.com described the exchange, as relayed below, saying the UIGEA questioning appeared to catch the Attorney General off guard, as the hearing was supposed to relate to his responsibility for alleged improprieties associated with the firings of the U.S. attorneys.

After a first question that was on topic, Kyl strayed, requesting a meeting to discuss "crime victims" to which Gonzales had little option but to agree.

It quickly turned into a lengthy monologue by Kyl listing the vices of online gambling, and describing his efforts to pass the UIGEA.

Kyl praised Gonzales and the Department of Justice for their high profile gambling industry arrests and for disrupting payment methods used by US online players.

He then began questioning Attorney General Gonzales regarding the anticipated regulations which will shortly be released to enforce the UIGEA, and the potential substance of those regulations.

First, Kyl strongly urged Gonzales to agree that there is a need for "strong regulations." Gonzales agreed.

Next, Kyl pushed for Gonzales to agree that the regulations would include a requirement that banks and financial institutions receive a list of specific bank accounts that belonged to known online gambling establishments, so that those accounts could be easily blocked.

Gonzales repeatedly stated that he was not sure if that effort could be accomplished, but said his office was doing everything they could to work with Kyl's office and develop a strong set of regulations.

Kyl was not happy with that answer, and repeatedly pushed Gonzales to agree that the regulations would include such a list.

Eventually Kyl became satisfied when instead Gonzales conceded that including such a list would strengthen the regulations.

Next, Kyl stressed the urgent need to finalize the regulations, since they were "about to be issued", indicating that the Treasury Department was waiting on some feedback from the Attorney General (which one assumes includes feasibility of the "list").

Gonzales assured the Senator that he is working as quickly as possible on it, and doing everything that he can to assist in drafting the regulations.

Walters summed up this most unusual exchange by saying it appears that Sen. Kyl is meeting some resistance from the Attorney General's Office to develop the kind of regulations Kyl envisions as most effective for implementing the UIGEA.

"The Attorney General obviously has a lot on his mind these days, and online gambling may not be the most important issue on his plate," Walters observes dryly.

"However, Gonzales has significant motivation to keep the Senators happy- particularly those on the Oversight Committee. But the practical reality involved in identifying and blocking specific accounts known to be used for online gambling transactions is rearing its ugly head, forcing the Attorney General to wrestle with the real world implications of this effort."

Too, Kyl drawing attention to the UIGEA in an unrelated enquiry could be in reaction to the increasing publicity of Congressman Barney Frank's imminent introduction of a bill to repeal what he has described as "the stupidest act ever passed" and the increasing support Frank is receiving from American online gambling voters.

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