The Act does not mention the creation of a list of unlawful Internet gambling businesses. However, the Agencies are aware that there is some interest in exploring this idea. The Agencies considered including in the proposed rule’s examples of reasonably designed policies and procedures, examination of a list that would be established by the U.S. Government of businesses known to be engaged in the business of unlawful Internet gambling. Some have suggested that the obligation of financial institutions with respect to such a list might be similar in effect to their obligations under certain other U.S. laws, such as those administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), albeit in a different context. Some have also suggested that the list could be either available publicly in its entirety, so that financial transaction providers could check transactions against the list themselves, or maintained confidentially at a central location, so that financial transaction providers could submit transactions to the entity operating the central database, which would inform the financial transaction providers whether the transaction involved an unlawful Internet gambling business on its list. Proponents of the list suggest that under either of these approaches, certain restricted transactions directed to unlawful Internet gambling accounts could be blocked.
Any government agency compiling and providing public access to such a list would need to ensure that the particular business was, in fact, engaged in activities deemed to be unlawful Internet gambling under the Act. This would require significant investigation and legal analysis. Such analysis could be complicated by the fact that the legality of a particular Internet gambling transaction might change depending on the location of the gambler at the time the transaction was initiated, and the location where the bet or wager was received. In addition, a business that engages in unlawful Internet gambling might also engage in lawful activities that are not prohibited by the Act. The government would need to provide an appropriate and reasonable process to avoid inflicting unjustified harm to lawful businesses by incorrectly including them on the list without adequate review. The high standards needed to establish and maintain such a list likely would make compiling such a list time-consuming and perhaps under-inclusive.
To the extent that Internet gambling businesses can change the names they use to receive payments with relative ease and speed, such a list may be outdated quickly. The Agencies do not enforce the gambling laws, and interpretations by the Agencies in these areas may not be determinative in defining the Act’s legal coverage. As noted above, the Act does not comprehensively or clearly define which activities are lawful and which are unlawful, but rather relies on underlying substantive law. In order to compile a list of businesses engaged in unlawful Internet gambling under the Act, the Agencies would have to formally interpret the various Federal and State gambling laws in order to determine whether the activities of each business that appears to conduct some type of gambling-related function are unlawful under those statutes. The Agencies request comment on whether establishment and maintenance of such a prohibited list by the Agencies is appropriate, and whether examining or accessing such a list should be included in the regulation’s examples of policies and procedures reasonably designed to identify and block or otherwise prevent or prohibit restricted transactions. The Agencies also request comment on whether, if it were practical to establish a fairly comprehensive list and a participant routinely checked the list to make sure the indicated payee of each transaction the participant processed on a particular designated payment system is not on the list, the participant should be deemed to have, without taking any other action, policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent or prohibit restricted transactions with respect to that designated payment system. Similarly, the Agencies also request comment on whether, if such a list were established and a participant routinely checked the list to make sure a prospective commercial customer was not included on the list (as well as perhaps periodically screening existing commercial customers), the participant should be deemed to have, without taking any other action, policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent or prohibit restricted transactions. Finally, assuming such a list were established and became available to all participants in the designated payment systems, the Agencies request comment on the extent to which the exemptions provided in section 4 of the proposed rule should be narrowed.
Any commenter that believes that such a list should be included in the regulation’s examples of policies and procedures is requested to address the issues discussed above regarding establishing, maintaining, updating, and using such a list. The Agencies also request comment on any other practical or operational aspects of establishing, maintaining, updating, or using such a list. Finally, the Agencies request comment on whether relying on such a list would be an effective means of carrying out the purposes of the Act, if unlawful Internet gambling businesses can change their corporate names with relative ease.