Last Tuesday's introduction of a new U.S. House bill seeking to explore a regulatory regime for online gambling broke up a long string of bad news for I-gaming in the United States. Then one day later came a second bit of good news for the industry: A U.S. court upheld the dismissal of two related class-action lawsuits in which Visa and MasterCard were sued for gambling debts incurred while gambling online using credit cards. (For the full story, see "US Appeals Court Upholds Duval Ruling")
Dare we call it a winning streak?
It's tough to determine from several hundred feet below the surface whether the industry is little closer to getting out of the hole, but one thing's for sure: the Duval ruling can't hurt.
We asked payment processing expert Melody Wigdahl of Glenkirk West:
Will the upholding of the Duval ruling have any bearing on how Visa and MasterCard will approach I-gaming?
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Melody Wigdahl:
... You have to look at a decision like this as a strong building block in the path towards the U.S. joining other countries in the creation of a positive and controlled legal environment.
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Melody Wigdahl - Anything that comes down more or less on the side of I-gaming is positive at this point, and to have a higher court uphold the lower court decision in this case is especially promising. It now gives precedence for other pending cases as well, and that is a very important factor.
It is also good to note that a higher court upholding the decision usually carries more weight in later cases than a higher court reversing the lower court because essentially it means that two courts interpreted the allegations and applicable laws/regulations in the same way.
RICO (the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act) has been so misused over the years; it is gratifying to see that it did not happen in this case. The decision clearly goes through and negates each and every step of the initial charges and clearly states that that Internet gambling is not illegal as stipulated in the Wire Act. Only betting on sports events is affected by the Wire Act.
Although I haven't heard anything official in response from the associations, you have to look at a decision like this as a strong building block in the path towards the U.S. joining other countries in the creation of a positive and controlled legal environment.
And to the consumer, I hope that it will send a clear message that we must all accept responsibility for our personal actions, whether it be running up charges for clothes, alcohol, food or gambling. If a person is out of control, they are out of control and it must be dealt with at a personal level, not by fobbing off the responsibility on Visa, the merchant or the bank. No one sues Macy's or Visa because they bought too many pairs of shoes! And trust me... I probably could have won that one!
Melody Wigdahl has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Ms. Wigdahl’s involvement in e-commerce began in 1996, when the Internet was still in its infancy. Today, her Cincinnati-based firm, Glenkirk West, specializes in cutting-edge payment and fraud screening solutions for a global client base.
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