Way back in 2006 the internet bingo industry and the online gambling industry were thrown into chaos by the passage of anti online gambling legislation in the United States. The legislation was a total surprise to the industry and had been introduced using stealth methods and in fact most legislators voted for the bill unknowingly. A later survey showed that if the bill had been presented as a standalone piece of legislation a vast majority of congressmen would not have voted for the bill. Unfortunately the bill was tacked on to a must pass port security bill presented in a late night session with no time for debate. The bill threw the internet bingo industry into chaos. Gaming stocks plummeted on global stock exchanges and hundreds of people lost their jobs.
Since 2006 there have been several unsuccessful attempts to overturn the law. Many had hoped that the 2010 lame duck session of congress would pass legislation legalizing internet bingo and online gaming. Now that republicans hold a majority in the House of Representatives most political observers say it would be very difficult to pass any gambling legislation. A recently leaked report showed that credit card giant Mastercard spent about a million dollars lobbying congress during the third quarter of 2010.
Mastercard was specifically lobbying for reform of anti online gambling legislation. Mastercard and other credit card and payment processor were burdened with enforcement responsibilities after anti gambling legislation was passed in 2006. The law stated that banks, credit card companies and payment processors are responsible for monitoring the transactions of their customers to make sure no gambling related transactions take place. Since the enforcement mandate was unfunded it costs these companies millions to comply with the new law. Most of the credit card companies want to be absolved from their enforcement responsibilities. If they are successful in their efforts it could easily open the door for the return of internet bingo to the United States.
If the credit card companies are successful what would that mean for internet bingo players? Obviously there would be intense competition for the millions of potential players. Most likely bingo internet providers will offer players bigger bingo bonuses and jackpots which will benefit players around the world. Also more players would facilitate the creation of more mega jackpot bingo games. At the present it looks like the road to legalization in the United States will be a long one.
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