What exactly is the UIGEA? Here is an excerpt from Topboss Group which briefly describes what the UIGEA is ” On Friday 13 October 2006 President George W. Bush signed a law to deter terrorists from smuggling weapons into the United States inside shipping containers that enter the country from foreign ports each year. This is known as the Port Security Bill. Attached to the Port Security Bill was an unrelated provision – the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act ( UIGEA ) which prohibits online gamblers resident in the USA from using credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers to place and settle bets.Whilst this bill didn’t actually make online casinos in the USA illegal, it did put a lot of pressure on the online casinos to find payment processors who were prepared to process gambling transactions from players resident in the USA, and unfortunately they are few and far between, so there was a number of online casinos that were forced to close their doors to USA resident Players”

Lets see what J Todd from APCW has to say about the UIGEA

Although this blog is primarily about gambling – I could not resist letting off some steam about our telephone service provider in South Africa known as Telkom.Those of you who read this blog regularly may have noticed that there has been no posts for the past 4 days. This is not because we didn’t have anything to say, but because our phone lines were struck by lightning. This does happen from time to time and is all well and good but despite numerous telephone calls and promises that “the technician will be there at 11am” It took 5 days for them to eventually bother to come around and fix the problem, and this was achieved purely by calling on a favour of a contact we have at Telkom, otherwise who knows how much longer it would have taken. We are also zoned as a business which is supposed to get preferential treatment compared to a residential address. If this is what preferential treatment is, then I would hate to see how long they take to fix a residential telephone!!!!

I wish another telephone provider would come into South Africa as we would be their first customer!!!

Sometimes the ASA can get a bit ridiculous in our opionion. They have banned 3 of Ladbrokes tv ads due to a single complaint from a viewer. Below is Ladbrokes press release, and a link at the bottom where you can view the actual ads and decide for yourself if you believe they should have been banned

STATEMENT FROM LADBROKES IN RESPONSE TO ASA BAN ON LADBROKESCASINO.COM ADS .

Ladbrokes today confirmed it will seek a review of the ASA’s ruling to ban its award- winning advertising campaign for ladbrokescasino.com following just one complaint from a member of the public.

The betting and gaming leader believes the ruling is an incorrect application of the CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code and is in effect a ruling against using humour in gambling advertisements. Ladbrokes will now lodge a request for a review with the Independent Reviewer of ASA Adjudications.

John O’Reilly, Managing Director of Ladbrokes Remote Betting and Gaming commented: “Ladbrokes fully supports the code of practice relating to gambling advertising but this ruling is an example of political correctness going too far. We believe the ads are compliant as they are humorous and show people in fantastical situations to which no one would aspire. Consumers know that you cannot jump from a plane using a 30g pack of crisps as a parachute!”

At every stage of development process Ladbrokes’ marketing teams and advertising agency M&C Saatchi carefully ensured the campaign conformed with the relevant codes. Following production the advertisements were approved by Clearcast, the company responsible for the pre-transmission examination and clearance of television advertisements before broadcast.

Following the ASA’s draft recommendation to uphold the complaint, Ladbrokes requested a referral to the CAP General Media Panel, an independent panel made up of industry experts and one ASA Council member. Despite the panel’s recommendation to dismiss the complaint, the ASA Council ruled the ads were in breach of the CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 11.10.1(h), by portraying gambling in a context of toughness and linking it to recklessness.

The campaign for ladbrokescasino.com was a finalist at the Cannes International Advertising Awards and was a London International Awards Silver Winner. The campaign was comprised of three advertisements – “Shark”, “Climb”, and “Parachute” – with all three using a documentary style format to depict fantastical situations where people undertake bizarre acts to “quench their thrill buds”.

Check out the Banned Casino TV Adverts.