Last Minute Hopes for Online Casino Ban

4 Oct 2006

Should President Bush sign the new US legislation, it would make it illegal for banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions to transfer funds for American gamblers to Internet gambling sites. Meanwhile, the impact is felt at the Stock Market, as shares of Party Gaming PLC, which operates the world's most popular poker site, Party Poker, fell 58 percent on Monday. Shares of Sporting bet, which owns Paradise Poker, fell 64 percent. Overall, the plunge wiped off as much as $7.5 billion in stock value.

The congress has approved Safe Ports Bill to which the anti-online casino gambling measure was attached and since it was attached to a most irrelevant bill, questions have been arising regarding what might be done until such a law is finalized by the President. Online financial channels have been discussing a most irregular road that could be taken, namely the "Presidents' Line Item Veto". Theoretically, the President could have authority to veto an irrelevant attachment such as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 excited player interest.

With the feeling that they have nothing to lose by trying, a number of players are compiling last minute appeals to the President, pointing to the "Line Item Veto Act" and the unusual manner in which the anti-online gaming measure had been attached to the Safe Ports Bill instead of undergoing the more democratic process of debate on the Senate floor.