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The Hawaii Reporter featured a great piece this week on some of the dumbest product bans of the past year, among them online poker, though officially online poker found itself technically "banned" in late 2006 with the policy enforcement writeups appearing only this past year. In a nutshell, the bark (2006) turned out to be worse than the bite (2008).
The Hawaii Reporter lists the ban on Internet poker right up there with Toronto's attempts to ban the sale of bottled water on city owned property and Louisiana (a state that has aggressively gone after online gambling operators) in its decision to ban flower arrangements (unless sold by licensed purveyors). Gambling911.com has previously asked the question: Doesn't Louisiana have more pressing priorities, like fix the problems resulting from Hurricane Katrina nearly four years ago?
From the Hawaii Reporter:
"Americans like to gamble. As of 2008, 48 states had legal gambling in some form, and today 38 allow the operation of casinos, slot parlors, or card rooms.6
"Nearly all Americans approve of the activity-around 90 percent in one recent poll.7 However, a 2006 federal law, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), places absurd restrictions on banks in an attempt to outlaw Internet gambling.8
"The law, which the Bush administration attempted to implement through a "midnight" rulemaking effort in its waning days, essentially bars banks from engaging in or facilitating transactions to transfer money to online gambling providers outside of the United States.
"The absurdity of trying to curb gambling aside, UIGEA will adversely affect activities which do not constitute gambling at all, imposing tremendous costs on the rest of the economy. The regulations will impose a sizeable burden on the already struggling banking sector. The cost, the Treasury, Office of Management and Budget, and Federal Reserve agree-will come in upwards of $100 million a year."
