The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was imposed by the United States government to ensure that no one in the United States can earn any money or collect income from gaming and gambling on the Internet from games of chance or poker rooms and casinos.  You very likely have played in some of these online poker rooms and casinos, and are extremely aware that day are just a simple diversion, offering usually very small stakes for casual players, ramping up to all manner of tournaments and other events for more advanced players.  As the popularity of online poker rooms and casinos began to reach critical proportions, the United States government had to have seen this and thought to themselves that this was a possible revenue stream that they had left untaxed due to the fact that it is distributed and facilitated by the Internet, a non-taxable medium of exchange and trade.  Due to the murky laws that regulate business on the Web, collecting taxes on Internet gambling winnings from online poker rooms and casinos would be a chore like no other, exhausting resources and man power on a tremendous scale.

The Wire Act, a law that has been in place for many years, forbids the use of phone lines and other transmission methods for the distribution and dissemination of information regarding the facilitation of gambling and gaming or wagering in games of chance of any kind.  The Wire Act also forbade any American citizen or corporation or other institution from engaging in any type of revenue sharing or enjoying any related income from the ongoing activities of wiring numbers and running numbers over phone lines and other transmission mediums in the United States.  While the language of the Wire Act was rather clear, it seems that it was loosely enforced in the manner of online poker rooms and casinos, as it was a simple enough matter to simply set up shop in Costa Rica and avoid all United States Internet gambling and online casino poker room laws related to the transmission of information and dissemination of gambling activities over United States transmission networks.

But the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act made it impossible for companies to collect money from United States citizens in the process of gaming and gambling online.  The act forbids United States banking institutions from interacting with any type of gambling and gaming website or agent thereof.

It stands to reason that if there were some manner of taxing and collecting tax revenue on Internet gaming and online poker rooms and casinos, then the law might be changed in a big hurry.