Poker Players Alliance Tries To Delay UIGEA's December 1st Deadline

Regulations governing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) were put into effect on January 19, 2009 but strict enforcement of the statute is looming with a December 1st deadline for compliance.
Recent legislation designed to halt the UIGEA being enforced in December failed to make it past Congress and so the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) have adopted a different tactic to try deferring the time limit to a later date.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has now received a petition from the PPA ‘interest group’ requesting an extension of one year to the December deadline under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
Within the petition was mentioned a warning that enforcing the statute would put “an unreasonable burden on regulators and the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis.”  The reference here is to banks and designated payment systems who, once the date is reached, will be required to block movement of funds from their business to the online poker sites.
Up until now there have been only a few instances of banks freezing the accounts of processing companies involved in online poker payments, usually under orders from authorities, because compliance of the UIGEA was not required until December 1st.
The experience of American online poker players could be about to change drastically but not if the PPA has anything to do about it. The U.S. Treasury Secretary now has 180 days to reply to the petition and we will keep you updated as the news comes in.