| Real
Casinos> 2007
- Real Casinos News Archive>
iMEGA DEALS A NEW CARD IN ONLINE GAMBLING
Lawsuit filed against US Attorney General Gonzales
to halt enforcement of anti-online gambling law.
Setting the Internet message boards and company communications
alight this week is news that a little known organisation titled
the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA)
has filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,
apparently with the objective of halting the enforcement of the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve are also named
in the lawsuit, which is accompanied by a request for "Temporary
Restraints to Halt Enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) and Resume Internet Gambling."
Top executives of the organisation are scheduled to speak this
Thursday at the Global Interactive Gamiing Summit and Expo (GIGSE)
currently running in Montreal, and news of the litigation will ensure
a large attendance of delegates for their session.
A statement released by the organisation advises that iMEGA is
seeking judgment restraining the United States from enforcing the
“Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006”
(UIGEA). The current law prevents U.S. credit-card companies and
banks from processing payments to online gambling businesses. According
to the Act, violators are subject to civil and/or criminal penalties
including imprisonment.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court outlines how the Unlawful
Internet Gambling Enforcement Act infringes upon basic constitutional
rights and sets a dangerous precedent for I-commerce by criminalising
the transmission of money if the end result is illegal in some unspecified
place. The injunction, if granted, will prevent the government from
enforcing the UIGEA and pave the way for Internet gambling to resume
pending further order of the court.
“The purpose of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement
Act is to prevent Americans from engaging in their rights to conduct
their lives in the manner they wish to live it - to be free from
the government imposing public morality in the privacy of one’s
home”, says Eric M. Bernstein, Esq., lead attorney for iMEGA.
The lawsuit also seeks to stop the enforcement of the UIGEA based
on the recent ruling of the World Trade Organisation in a final
appeal which found the United States in contempt of treaty obligations
regarding Internet gambling (see previous InfoPowa reports).
Washington spokesmen recently said the United States would not
appeal the ruling in favor of Antigua and Barbuda, the Caribbean
nation which won the WTO challenge against the US and one nation
where Internet gambling is legal. Instead, Washington says, the
US will try to modify its treaty obligation to eliminate Internet
gambling. The WTO ruling permits sanctions to be imposed against
the US.
According to the statement, the Interactive Media Entertainment
& Gaming Association was established to be "a voice of
reason in Washington and around the world for the fair, equitable,
and rational governance of interactive Internet commerce and communications."
The organisation is believed to be made up of many different individuals
and has extensive funding.
Edward Leyden, President of iMEGA, hopes the lawsuit "...will
open the eyes of legislators [and] encourage the regulation and
taxation of Internet gaming. Without transparency, American consumers
who gamble online are left without standards of practice or consumer
protections."
"Two major benefits come immediately from U.S. recognition
and regulation of Internet gaming; transparency and tax revenues,”
said Leyden. “As with the U.S. financial markets, transparency
assures that broad access to relevant data and the balancing forces
of a free market all operate to maintain fairness and prevent corruption.
Similarly, in this age of a yawning federal "tax gap,"
U.S. taxation of Internet gaming transactions and companies could
generate more than $20 billion during the next several years - all
while saving federal law enforcement dollars for the fight against
terrorism and other dire issues.”
iMEGA's lead legal expert, Eric M. Bernstein, Esq. has 25 years
of experience in handling litigation on a wide range of subjects
within the labour / employment law fields, including general advice
and assistance, contract negotiations, interest and grievance arbitrations,
fact-finding and mediation, disciplinary matters involving public
safety and non-public safety employees.
He has served as a municipal attorney on issues as widely diverse
as land use, ethics, municipal construction, local public contracts
law, tax appeals, open space acquisition and government affairs.
And as a board of education attorney, Bernstein has handled matters
of special education, teacher/student discipline and budget appeals.
In regard to First Amendment / Internet law, Bernstein is a member
of the First Amendment Lawyer's Association and the Free Speech
Coalition.
In addition to his professional practice, Bernstein is a regular
and frequently requested speaker at state and national organisations
and has been teaching for the Rutgers University Bureau of Government
Research since the early 1980s. Mr. Bernstein has written articles
for publication and serves as a Director of the New Jersey State
Bar Association Local Government Law Section, where he was previously
Vice President and Editor of its newsletter.
|
