US DoJ: Poker not excluded from UIGEA

Following the Black Friday events, 11 people were indicted by the US Department of Justice and four of them were actually arrested. Amongst these are John Campos and Chad Elie who have been arraigned and who have submitted not-guilty pleas.

Following the latter’s contention as to poker being a game of skill and consequently not falling under UIGEA legislation, the US DoJ attorney produced a 51-page response contradicting this statement. In summary, there are three main reasons why, according to the DoJ, John Campos, Chad Elie as well as the other parties which were indicted on Black Friday are guilty:

To begin with, it is not only the UIGEA legislation which was violated but several other laws as well in the defendants’ course towards going around the legislations which purported to restrict monetary transactions to and from online gaming sites. Apparently, they went to great lengths to attain their goal using shell corporations and falsified payment codes amongst others. Connections to the Mafia were even mentioned.

The second reason has to do with the fact that John Campos and Chad Elie committed bank fraud while being fully aware of it and its possible implications. According to the DoJ, the poker sites “engaged Elie and Campos, among others, to perform an indispensable service: find ways, by hook or crook, to move money from United States residents, through the United States financial system, to the offshore accounts of the poker companies. They did so in violation of the IGBA (the Illegal Gambling Business Act), the UIGEA and other federal statutes.”

The third reason is perhaps the most worrying amongst all, not only for the defendants but for everyone in general. When it comes to the claim that poker is a game of skill and hence does fall under UIGEA legislation the DoJ has other views and responded with the following “the feds claim that Congress did not intend to exclude poker from UIGEA and that if it wanted to do so, lawmakers would have done it in a clearer fashion. Federal prosecutors point out that lawmakers changed the wording of the bill so that it would apply to games “subject to chance” as opposed to “predominantly subject to chance” for this reason.”

It appears then that any game subject to an infinitesimal degree of luck or change could find itself falling under UIGEA legislation.

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