Since January 19th the UIGEA has come into effect and all American financial institutions must implement it no later than December 1st. The UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) is part of George Bush's administration "midnight drop" and it demands that from today all financial institutions and credit card companies take measures to forbid any transaction related to illegal internet gambling.

The UIGEA has brought controversy as it does not set specific parameters on what is considered illegal so the financial institutions find themselves in between contradictory laws. Financial institutions also have commented that this will bring one more burden on them in times of financial crisis.

According to Poker News Daily, the final UIGEA regulations issued on November 12th, 2008 were as follows:

- The law does not target the players; it targets the financial institutions and the gambling sites themselves.

- The systems over which UIGEA rules are: credit card systems, check collection systems, money transmitting businesses, wire-transfer systems and automated clearing house systems.

- Most payment systems must screen new accounts and reject those likely to be involved with online gaming. This is a reduction of what was initially implied, and a relief to the banking industry, which feared it would have to examine every existing account and monitor every transaction.

- Credit card operators "have a harder job" according to Kenneally, since they will have to assign a merchant category code to online gaming merchants, and monitor constantly for changes of activity in merchants.
The UIGEA has been opposed by several organizations ever since it was brought up to public attention. Some organizations such as the PPA (Poker Players Alliance) still struggle to repeal this ruling. It was also commented that this was part of Obama's schedule (not the most important point there, I would say) and also some senators are involved in the fight to legalize internet gambling. However this fight has been unsuccessful so far.