UIGEA

What is the UIGEA? UIGEA stands for the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006". This is a piece of legislation which was attached the Safe Port Act and as such was forced into being passed by the United States Congress. The Safe Port Act is a bill which is deemed to be critical to the actual functioning of government and as such was certain to be passed. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was simply added to it so that it would need to be passed too, even although it has nothing at all to do with the rest of the Safe Port Act.

UIGEA makes it illegal to place a bet on the internet, the specific terms being:

"IN GENERAL.—The term 'unlawful Internet gambling' means to place, receive, or otherwise knowingly transmit a bet or wager by any means which involves the use, at least in part, of the Internet where such bet or wager is unlawful under any applicable Federal or State law in the State or Tribal lands in which the bet or wager is initiated, received, or otherwise made."

Some poker sites have chosen to ignore the legislation as they are based outside USA and still offer facilities for Americans to play poker online.