Nation's Oldest State Lottery Under Pressure

Published: Friday, January 23, 2009 Online-Casinos.com

The US crackdown on Internet gambling has indeed had effects on the nation's oldest state lottery. The New England state of New Hampshire, USA reports that credit cards of online Lottery customers are being rejected because banks are now implementing the UIGEA. The problem is isolated to credit and debit card purchases of the popular Powerball and Tri-State Megabucks lottery game subscriptions, which players can buy through the state's Web site: NHLottery.com. The banking association did warn the government that the UIGEA was too vague.Wayne Abernathy, American Bankers Associations executive vice president of financial institutions policy and regulatory affairs said that UIGEA is not likely to be a successful public policy.

Banks began implementing UIGEA on January 19, 2009. Many banks have chosen to block all online companies' transactions which are coded as gambling. State lotteries were made exempt from UIGEA regulations, but apparently this is not happening just yet. Those lottery customers whose purchases did make it through the credit card filters were charged a service fee for handling their lottery transactions, making these customers very unhappy.

The 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) continues to create confusion and doubt that the regulations can be implemented without destroying the good will and confidence of online gaming customers. Visa and MasterCard, said they would take the state's concerns and review their position on this issue.

Hearings last April, indicated that it would be particularly difficult to craft workable regulations to effectively enforce the statute without having a substantial adverse effect on the payments system. The Proposed Rules impose an enormous unfunded law enforcement mandate on banks in place of the government's law enforcement agencies. Warning enough back in April after over 400 written comments, and open letters. Even officials from Treasury and the Fed both testified at the congressional hearing that the new laws were vague and untenable. The saga continues...