November 15 - According to leading Internet audience measurement and analysis
firm, Nielsen//NetRatings, traffic to online gambling websites dropped
dramatically in
October this year after President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act of 2006 into law.
Web traffic statistics supplied by Nielsen/NetRatings showed that the number of
American-based unique visitors to online gambling websites dropped by
56 percent compared with the previous month (September 2006).
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA) was passed by
Congress largely due to the fact that it was 'sneakily' attached to a ports
security bill, and thereafter signed into law a few days later by the President.
UIEGA effectively bans US banks and credit card companies from processing online
gambling-related payments, making it extremely difficult as well as illegal for
American online gamblers to gamble online.
However, Nielsen/NetRatings stats also showed that despite the knock to online
gambling website traffic in October this year, the month still showed a 19 percent
increase over the same period last year, showing the steady growth of the online
gambling industry.
While analysts predicted that many American online gamblers would skirt the ban,
the majority of large online gambling companies have stopped
accepting wagers from US-online gamblers.
