IGREA or the Internet Gaming and Regulation Act is Barney Frank’s answer to UIGEA the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This Act was promulgated into law by the USA and literally put hundreds of EU and UK online bingo operators on the brink of bankruptcy overnight.
Effectively it means that Barney Frank is lobbying for support for his Act within the US Congress and he has recently garnered even more support for the Act with three more US Congressmen joining his ranks to promote this change.
Barney Frank with the enactment of IGREA is determined to have a regulated gambling industry that operates similarly to that of the UK, this could have the effect of resolving the present WTO dispute, whereby the USA could be held liable for billions of dollars in compensation payable to the online bingo operators whose business they took away when they decided to unilaterally defy the World Trade Organisation’s free trade between member nations policy.
In late 2006, online bingo operators suffered a devastating loss with the implantation of UIGEA and the USA is going to have to either look at changing the Act to accommodate free trade of cough up billions of dollars in compensation, the better option would be to open up the free trade rout again as this will enable UK bingo and EU online bingo operators to service the lucrative online bingo market of the USA.