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On October 13, 2006, President Bush signed into law the SAFE Port Act. Buried within this legislation dealing with port security issues was a section entitled the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The UIGEA, which had literally been added at the eleventh hour, has been the source of a great deal of confusion and debate regarding its applicability to internet gambling. The UIGEA did not actually outlaw internet gambling. Rather, it prohibited the transfer of funds from United States financial institutions to internet gambling sites that were not defined in the Act as “legal’ sites (i.e. sites devoted to fantasy sports, online lotteries, and horse/harness racing). The effect of this act has been to move most internet gambling sites off shore and to create confusion for financial institutions whose clients seek to use such sites.

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Denver — Not long after Congress passed a ban on Internet gambling, PR man John Pappas knew he had to be here at the Democratic National Convention.

Pappas represented online poker players. Their ragtag Poker Players Alliance had been stunned by Congress’ midnight approval of the ban late in 2006.

Internet gamblers had been powerless to block the bill. They were only loosely affiliated. They often knew one another only by their online nicknames.

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This fall the House Financial Services Committee is finally expected to release its regulations for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which was signed into law in 2006; banks are anxiously awaiting clarity on a number of fronts, particularly what will entail illegal gambling and what happens if they mistakenly block legal transactions.

The issues are so thorny that House Financial Services panel Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced legislation designed to delay the implementation of said regulations, but the committee rejected the bill during the summer.

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Members of the Czech Association of Poker Clubs are pushing the Finance Ministry to recognize the game as an official sport, and have enlisted legal representatives from Ernst & Young to aid in their campaign.

As a result of these discussions, ministry officials say they are preparing to introduce a new “lottery act” that will streamline national regulations for gambling, which is currently prohibited outside of casinos. At present, it is unknown whether poker game restrictions will be altered as part of the new legislation, which officials expect to release for government approval late this year.

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Online poker is a pastime rapidly gaining ground among Italian gamblers, it seems from a survey conducted recently by the Consumers Defense and Orientation Association (ADOC) and reported this week by the Agipronews agency. The survey found that Italians punters annually spend an average of Euros 600 each on Internet gambling, making a total yearly spend of Euros 350 million.

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ANCHORAGE — A ballot measure that would create a Gaming Commission was lagging Tuesday.

With 70 percent of the vote counted, the initiative was losing with more than 62 percent of voters rejecting it.

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Gamblers can start betting on poker games today at the new Banker’s Casino card room in downtown Salinas. But the privilege may not last long.

After months of negotiations between the business owners and city officials, Salinas Police Chief Dan Ortega signed off Wednesday on an interim card room permit that allows Banker’s Casino on Monterey Street to open for business for about 60 days.

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But there’s also the political agenda of the organizers, the Poker Players Alliance. Several politicians were on hand, including U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colorado.

The alliance is working to legalize online poker. As part of those efforts, the group wants to repeal legislation Congress passed in 2006 that prohibits U.S. banks and credit-card companies from processing transactions for gambling websites.

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As the Republican Convention looms in the near future, the Republican Platform Committee has been busy trying to hammer out the details for the 2008 campaign platform.

Initially it looked like the party may have decided to drop their opposition to online gambling from the official line, but CQ Politics reported on Tuesday, the language has once again been added.

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They say Hollywood stars are dominating the show here. Ben Affleck certainly is.

Last night (or rather, early this morning), Affleck won a charity poker tournament sponsored by the poker industry’s lobbying group and made good on a promise he made before coming here.

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