There is troubling news coming out of Washington, D.C. right now. Though the plan has not been confirmed, there is a rumor that the U.S. Treasury Department plans to implement new rules that would give them unprecedented access to the monitoring of financial transactions. Such rules could make it much more difficult, or even impossible, for Americans to gamble online.

Under current federal law, all banks are required to report international money transfers of $10,000 or higher to the Treasury Department. That is done to combat money laundering, the financing of terrorism and more. However, the current plan is rumored to be a rule requiring banks to report all international money transfers, regardless of the amount. That could have a serious impact on U.S. members of overseas online casinos.

Currently there is no federal law in the United States banning online gambling. However, the passage of UIGEA in 2006 allows the federal government to go after banks and other financial institutions that transfer funds from unlawful Internet gambling, though which forms are unlawful was never defined. As a result, most U.S. credit cards will no longer process transactions involving online gambling websites.

Because of that, most U.S. online gamblers have to use third-parties, such as e-wallets, to transfer funds to the casinos. Under the proposed new rules, though, all of those transactions would have to be reported to the federal government. Though the U.S. player isn’t doing anything illegal, there is a lot of confusion on Capitol Hill and in the courtrooms about the legal status of online gambling. Players may be at risk of being found guilty of a crime, even though no such crime exists.

More bad news is that such a change would not have to be passed as a new law or an amendment to current law. Congress would not have to vote on this change. The Treasury Department has been given the authority to simply make regulations like this, without the approval of the People.

Tags: gambling regulations, report international transactions, Treasury Department, U.S. gambling laws, UIGEA