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PartyGaming Makes Nice With U.S. (1 of 2)

Gibraltar-based online slot machine and casino gambling firm PartyGaming will pay over one million dollars in fines to the U.S. government for violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act for several years, say reports. The deal comes in exchange for the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York agreeing to not prosecute the firm for carrying on illicit financial transactions with Yankee gamblers. Lev L. Dassin stated that the one hundred five million dollar fine was levied in exchange for amnesty from prosecution on the part of PartyGaming, and may be repaid over three years’ time by the company, which is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange.

Critics of the UIGEA – of whom there are many – argue that PartyGaming ought to just ignore the U.S.’s censure. After all, when the company carried out their supposedly illegal transactions with American gamblers they were carrying out activities that are perfectly legal in their jurisdiction, and may have even been legal with Americans. Supporters of the UIGEA within the U.S. government claim that online gambling has always been illegal under the federal Wire Act, and that the 2006 legislation was nothing but a clarification. This is in spite of the fact that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit passed a decision that determined that the Wire Act did not prohibit online gambling, meaning that it was in fact legal until 2006. After all, the United States has always felt free to ignore threats and demands from other nations.

Continue to part 2 here.

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