The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act looks to be on track to go into full effect on June 1, 2010. This law makes it illegal for online gambling sites to knowingly accept deposits from US players; it also makes it illegal for financial institutions to knowingly facilitate such transactions. The UIGEA places onerous regulations on gambling transactions, which America’s banks are going to bear the brunt of responsibility and costs enforcing the new law.

The law has been openly criticized by many, including the VP of the American Bankers Association, Steve Kenneally, for being ambiguous and vague. In his criticism, he referred to its language that refers to “unlawful transactions” which is not adequately defined. Many have observed that “Unlawful Gambling” is another definition that is difficult to nail down as well.

Mr. Kenneally also said there was not any way to prevent individuals from making payments to gambling sites with checks or wire payments. He mentioned that credit cards are easier to prevent, only if the transaction is properly labeled, which many are not.

However, the question in most people’s minds is how will this ultimately affect deposits?

There seem to be some indications that online deposits will still be possible after the law goes into full effect, namely some credit cards, wires, checks, echecks and ewallets. Some methods may be more reliable than others.

Credit Cards: As Steve Kenneally pointed out, credit card transactions are extremely easy to prevent with the caveat that they are properly labeled or coded. In reality, however, many online gambling companies have become very creative in finding ways to code the transactions in a way that banks and financial companies do not know the transaction is in fact with an online gambling company. This leaves open the possibility that credit cards may be available even after the UIGEA goes into effect. However, we doubt they will be reliable, meaning they may work one day and not another. This depends greatly on how quickly the online gambling companies can adapt their coding techniques.

All online casinos and poker sites accept credit cards, however there are a few that have the best chance of accepting deposits after the UIGEA.

Best poker site for credit cards: www.PlayersOnly.com

Best casino site for credit cards: www.RushmoreOnline.com

Wires/Checks/Echecks: From the statements by Mr. Kenneally, it also appears that wires, checks and echecks (electronic echecks) may still be available after June 1st. This being because the check and wires are not categorized. In the case where banks may be able to block payments to certain companies, it may also be easy to get around.

Nearly all casinos poker sites take wires and paper checks.

However, there are only a few poker sites that take echecks, including www.FullTiltPoker.com and www.AbsolutePoker.com. There are no reputable online casinos which currently take echecks.

Ewallets: Among all deposit methods, ewallets seem to be the most viable option after the law takes effect. That is because ewallets such as usemywallet and Ewallet Xpress are simply third party financial companies, usually located overseas, so they are outside the jurisdiction of the US government. These companies allow individuals to make deposits to their online ewallet with credit cards, wire transfers, and checks. With this ewallet, an individual can then deposit money on any site that accepts such ewallets. Since these ewallets are not gambling sites, these transactions should still be easily available to US players.

Best poker sites for ewallets: www.PlayersOnly.com

Best casino sites for ewallets: www.RushmoreOnline.com

However, since the bill is so poorly written, even the best guess is purely speculation. We have sought opinions from top legal experts in gambling and they have even said it is very difficult to know. The only way to know in this case is to simply wait and see. We will continue to follow this and related information, so be sure to check www.compatiblepoker.com for US poker law updates.

Throughout the year, the National Board of Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the Conference Committee of the Mu Chapter have been working diligently on an energetic and instructive event that emphasizes the theme of the 2010 National Conference: “Investing In Our Memberships’ Capital.”

This event will happen the weekend of July 9-10, 2010, when more than 500 brothers from Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc.’s eighteen chapters converge at California State University, Sacramento. Facilitated by local educational professionals, the National Conference will provide professional development workshops, business meetings, chapter development and officer training sessions.

In addition, Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is proud to have Nick Montoya, senior manager at Intel Corporation, as the keynote speaker for the 2010 National Conference. Mr. Montoya currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and recently started his own company, Megaphone Communications, where he helps people achieve business and personal excellence.

The 2010 National Conference will be the first one held at the California State University, Sacramento campus. The theme, “Investing In Our Memberships’ Capital,” made Sacramento an immediate source of inspiration given the prominent role that the city plays for the State of California. The National Conference is intended to instill the expertise and the resolve necessary for its brothers to succeed professionally. It is also an opportunity to acknowledge the accomplishments of Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc.’s brothers and its chapters.

For additional information regarding Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc.’s upcoming National Conference in Sacramento, contact Angel Garibaldo at exec-vp@gammas.org or visit conference.gammas.org.

About Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc. – Since December 3rd, 1987, Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (GZA), has been at the forefront of community development, program development and leadership training- constantly striving to surpass the standards it has set for itself in Academic Excellence, Community Service, and the Maintenance of the Latino Culture through Brotherhood.

About NALFO – NALFO (National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations) is an umbrella council for Latino Greek Letter Organizations. The purpose of NALFO is to promote and foster positive inter-fraternal relations, communication, and development of all Latino Fraternal organizations through mutual respect, leadership, honesty, professionalism and education.

Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc. – Cultivating Leaders, Strengthening Communities

E-Book Systems, creator of the patented Digital Flip(R) e-publishing technology, announces Fanatics has adopted its 3-D page-flipping FlipViewer(R) Xpress viewer format for its 2010 FIFA World Cup Tour Itineraries and Travel Guides.

Fanatics run regular jaunts to a wide range of sports and party events around the world, while working closely with the Australian Rugby Union, Cricket Australia, Football Australia, the NRL & ARL, Tennis Australia, the AOC & various other international sporting organizations. With the 2010 FIFA World Cup coming up in June, Fanatics has specially chosen FlipViewer(R) Xpress to deliver its 2010 FIFA World Cup Tour Itineraries and Travel Guides.

“We chose FlipViewer(R) Xpress Creator software because we liked the end product of some of the samples that we saw so we decided to go for it,” said Warren Livingstone, Founder and Managing Director of Fanatics.

With E-Book Systems’ FlipViewer(R) Xpress solution, readers can now go to http://www.thefanatics.com/fifa_world_cup/index.php and browse through the FlipBook versions of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Tour Itineraries and Travel Guides. In a matter of moments, readers can view the Travel Guides just as they would appear in print — with real “flipping” pages plus much more.

“Everyone loves the FlipViewer(R) Xpress FlipBook format of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Tour Itineraries and Travel Guides. We have received great feedback from our readers. Our readers found the viewer very easy to use, and we especially like the search facility,” said Warren.

In addition to the ease-of-use advantages offered by the Digital Flip(R) technology, the FlipBook brochures enable Fanatics to provide the travelling information to their sports fans at their fingertips without having to compromise the look and feel of the printed brochures.

“We have people travelling with us from around the world so printed brochures don’t work for us. We have used PDFs in the past and this FlipBook edition is an extension of that. We have plans to further extend FlipViewer(R) Xpress to our other publications,” added Warren.

E-Book Systems’ FlipViewer(R) Xpress Creator software enables publishers and corporations to create and publish realistic page-flipping digital publications (“FlipBooks”) easily with just a few mouse clicks. The created FlipBook can then be hosted on any web server for online viewing or distributed through any media (e.g. CD, thumb drive, etc.) for offline viewing. The software accepts any PDF, image and Flash documents as inputs. In addition, multimedia elements like audio and video files can be incorporated into the FlipBook to enhance readers’ experience. E-Book Systems’ optional Digital Rights Management (DRM) solution also helps to safeguard content providers’ intellectual properties.

Fanatics joins a growing roster of E-Book Systems’ customers listed in http://www.flipviewer.com/flipbooks/. For more information, contact E-Book Systems by phone at (408) 625-8000, via email at info@ebooksys.com or visit www.flipviewer.com.

For more information about Fanatics, visit www.thefanatics.com.

About E-Book Systems
E-Book Systems (www.ebooksys.com) was founded in 1998 with a mission to bring the natural look and feel of the paper-based book into the domain of computers and the Internet. E-Book Systems specializes in providing software tools and services for the e-Publishing market. E-Book System’s products make use of its proprietary patented Digital Flip(R) user interface technology to deliver multimedia content and information such as PDF, video, audio, digital image, text, etc. via an impressive 3D Page-Flipping interface, which appears as a virtual FlipBook. These content could be streamed or delivered both online and offline through E-Book’s OpenFlip(TM) format.

E-Book Systems, a private on-going corporation, has offices in California (Santa Clara), China (Beijing), Japan (Tokyo), Berlin (Germany) and Singapore. Investors include Creative Technology Ltd. and SOFTBANK Creative, a subsidiary of SOFTBANK Corp. E-Book Systems’ products are distributed worldwide, including the U.S., Europe, China, Japan and Asia Pacific Region.

About Fanatics
Fanatics (www.thefanatics.com) officially began in 1997 with an aim to form an organized, passionate & patriotic support group that would follow Australian Sport at home and around the world. Fanatics have over 88,000 members receive their monthly newsletters & have organized travel for over 47,000 punters. Fanatics still run regular jaunts to a wide range of sports and party events around the world, while working closely with the Australian Rugby Union, Cricket Australia, Football Australia, the NRL & ARL, Tennis Australia, the AOC & various other international sporting organizations. Fanatics now concentrate on two main things; organizing events for like minded Australian sports fans to congregate at the biggest and best sporting events at home and overseas. Fanatics also operate affordable travel options to the world’s biggest and craziest festivals and parties, plus annual Anzac commemorations at both Gallipoli & the Western Front.

Fanatics have two full time offices – Sydney, Australia plus London, United Kingdom – both dedicated to ensuring they continue to offer the best range of tours and events anywhere in the world.