iMEGA´s day in court now September 26

Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA)'s case against the US Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors has been re-scheduled for September 26 before the Hon. Judge Mary L. Cooper in the US District Court of New Jersey (Trenton Division) by mutual consent of the opposing parties.

The pressure group iMEGA launched the temporary restraining order action against US government moves to curtail online gambling through the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which prohibits financial transactions with Internet gambling companies.

iMEGA spokesmen and lawyers have consistently claimed that the organisation's interest in challenging the UIGEA stems from concerns about the impact on present and future Constitutional freedoms, and not online gambling-specific issues. iMEGA contends that the law creates bad precedent and has the potential to negatively affect both innovation and the growth in the USA of e-commerce.

Judge Cooper will hear oral arguments on the iMEGA petition, together with a government response requesting that the iMEGA motion be dismissed, and iMEGA's argument against such a dismissal.

If the court rules favourably on the litigation, iMEGA expects it to seriously restrict the enforcement of the UIGEA, for which regulations still remain unpublished despite the passage of well over the 270 days government was given by Congress since the law's promulgation.