But Ruling Hints at Hopeful New Interpretation

From the CAP News page:

September 2, 2009 (CAP Newswire) -- An appeals court in the United States has rejected a claim by iMEGA (the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association) that current anti-online gambling laws are too vague and intrusive to be constitutional.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that the ruling offers a slightly new interpretation that may allow individual states to create their own online gambling laws. As we’ve seen in recent weeks, some tribes and card clubs in California are trying to do just that, so this could be the beginning of a new trend to legalize and regulate gaming state-by-state.

And again on the down side, that would of course lead to a whole new world of red tape and regulatory headaches. Still, it would be better than a strictly illegal environment, which the U.S. currently has now thanks to its 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

"We're disappointed that the court didn't overturn the law," said iMEGA’s Chairman, Joe Brennan Jr. But, according to the Wall Street Journal, the new interpretation can be seen as “a silver lining.”

"We lost the decision," Brennan added. "But the court gave us an awful lot to work with going forward."

To read more at the Wall Street Journal, click here.