http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=AP&Date=20061002&ID=6069369
The legislation is designed to prohibit U.S. banks and credit card companies from processing payments for illegal online gambling. Financial services companies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had expressed concerns about the compliance burdens that would be imposed, such as tracking and blocking potentially millions of transactions.
Under the legislation as passed, “If you are acting as a normal bank, and you’re not in some sort of conspiracy with a betting house, then you are not going to be held liable,” Verdier said.
In addition, the legislation will be guided and enforced by regulations written by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department.
“If they find that the banks just don’t have the technology to track and block these transactions, then we don’t have to,” Verdier said. “The Fed and Treasury are not supposed to ask us to do the impossible.”
Still, Verdier said, “we will have to see how those regulations get written.”