Poker Affiliate Legalities and the UIGEA
Monday, Nov 30, 2009
How does the UIGEA affect poker affiliate websites? The focus of UIGEA is on US bank transactions in order to prevent transactions to online gambling establishments. This article sets the record straight about what does and does not apply to Poker Affiliates.
UIGEA
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that was passed in the US in late 2006 not only impacted poker sites and poker players, but poker affiliates as well. While the US government had previously stated that it believed online gambling to be illegal, there were no legal precedents or legislation that directly addressed the situation; this changed, however, with the passage of the UIGEA, which led to many online sites to immediately stop allowing US players to play on their sites, as well as raising the question of whether or not US-based poker affiliates were now breaking the law by marketing and advertising for online poker sites.
The Intent of the UIGEA
Like many pieces of legislation, the UIGEA is very broad and vague in its language at times and can be interpreted in different ways. One key thing to note, however, is that the main intent of the UIGEA is to make it illegal for US banks to knowingly do business with online poker and gambling sites. It primarily addresses the financial processing side of the equation, as far as attempting to cut off deposits and withdrawals to and from poker sites to US players (and vice versa) by putting the burden on banks in the US to closely monitor and block any attempts by players to deposit or withdraw money to online gaming sites. The UIGEA never addresses poker affiliates directly, or even whether or not the act of playing poker online itself is legal or not; the UIGEA largely focuses on making it illegal for US banks to knowingly do business with online sites.
UIGEA and Poker Affiliates
That said, parts of the UIGEA do spill over to poker affiliates, especially in regards to a very vague section of the UIGEA that states that it consider it to be illegal for online sites and their employees to actively market to US players or to otherwise do business in the US. While details were very scarce, many affiliates were initially worried upon passage of the UIGEA that the US government would consider poker affiliates to in fact be employees of the sites they promoted, potentially exposing US-based poker affiliates to prosecution. That interpretation led to some poker affiliates shifting their focus to non-gambling affiliate programs immediately in the wake of the passage of the UIGEA, as at the time there was no clue as to what the future might hold.
That argument, though, was tenuous at best due to the very broad language of the UIGEA, and the fact of the matter is that in the years since the UIGEA was passed there hasn't been a single instance in which any poker affiliate has been investigated or charged. As mentioned above, the true focus and burden of the UIGEA is squarely on US banks, as the real purpose of the legislation was to try to cut off the flow of money to and from online gaming sites.
Conclusion
While the US government likely isn't happy that poker affiliates continue to promote various sites on websites accessible by US citizens, there's next to nothing in the UIGEA (or any other laws) that directly addresses the situation, as far as trying to make it illegal to act as a poker affiliate. As with any legal issue you should always consult an attorney if you have concerns, but at the moment there's little to fear for poker affiliates in the US.
