The U.S. facing online gambling industry could very well be back in "full swing" considering the serious efforts taking place to counter the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Today is the day that hundreds of thousands of gamblers and several online casino operators have been eagerly anticipating, for House Representative and House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank, has published the first draft bill of the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007. Not seeking to overturn the UIGEA, the IGREA instead seeks to counter enforcement regulations of the UIGEA by allowing for federal and state licensing/regulation of offshore online gambling businesses.

A cleverly crafted bill, the legislation does not even seek to overturn the Wire Act. It simply gives allowance for the regulation of legal online gambling companies who have met strict criteria guidelines required for doing business in the U.S. The bill also gives individual states in the Union and American Indian tribes the right to opt out of regulation or to regulate specific forms of online gambling. For instance, the State of California may decide to only permit online poker to be regulated and taxed, while the state of Florida may permit all forms of internet betting, including online casino gambling and sports betting to be regulated. Furthermore, gaming operators will be subject to both federal and state taxes.

In many ways the IGREA is a supplement to the UIGEA. Banks and credit card companies will continue to be blocked from doing business with unlicensed online casinos, but with the IGREA in effect, those online casinos which are licensed will be able to take bets from U.S. citizens residing in states where regulation is permitted. This is where the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) comes into the picture. The IGREA gives the FinCEN the exclusive authority to regulate annual gambling licenses, requiring U.S. corporate applicants to undergo extensive criminal background checks as well as having a minimum of underage and problem gambling prevention and detection protocols already in place.

While the UIGEA has been anything but effective in preventing underage and problem gambling, having it countered would certainly facilitate the process of making deposits and withdrawals at legitimate online casinos. According to industry reports, U.S. bettors are still being welcomed by many reputable gaming sites. The only difference is that the depositing and withdrawing process takes longer than before, which in several cases, used to be an instant process. The vast majority of U.S. players report that despite the lack of conveniences of high-speed payment processing, they are continuing to play stakes and win money.

If the IGREA is passed, which is very likely, the U.S. gambling industry won't be exactly like it used to be before the UIGEA. In many ways it will be better. Considering that nearly every U.S. state allows one form of gambling or another, it is likely that state governments would embrace regulation. Also, U.S. players will be better protected against rogue online casinos, fraud and identity theft. As for the government, they will get a hefty share of casino gambling tax revenue from the $258 billion global online gaming market - half  of which was fueled by U.S. players.

The IGREA is to be debated by the financial services committee this upcoming June, on a day yet to be determined. In the meantime, Democrat House Representative for Nevada, Shelley Berkley, is working fast to introduce legislation that calls for a comprehensive year-long study of the online gambling industry in the United States, which in effect, would postpone the enactment of enforcement guidelines of the UIGEA.