Gonzales is Gone, what’s next for poker and gaming industry

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 | Adrian Milewski

Alberto Gonzales has resigned from his position as US Attorney General, where he lead the agencies that created significant setbacks to online poker and the online gambling industry’s business with United States residents, resulting in significant business and financial damage to international gaming companies, their investors, as well as the individual freedom of the players.

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl had praised Gonzales and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for their pre-eminent gambling industry arrests as well as interrupting payment methods used by US online players during an April Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry on a completely unrelated issue.

Additionally, the Secretary of the Federal Reserve has been consulting Attorney General Gonzales in the effort to define regulations and methods to enforce the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Results are still to come as the 270 day deadline set forth to write up the regulations passed on July 10, 2007.

United States Media is primarily attributing this decision to the controversy around whether or not he worked with the White House in the alleged politically motivated dismissal of the US attorneys involved with separate issues, and subsequently committing perjury when he was before the Senate on the issue.

Gonzales is also a named defendant in the case filed by the online gambling industry trade group iMEGA.org, along with defendants: the US Department of Justice (DoJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The case has been casually deemed iMEGA vs UIEGA.

Gonzales submitted his resignation to President George Bush on Friday August 24, however the announcement did not come out until Monday August 27 after the two met on Sunday at the president’s Crawford ranch. His resignation will become effective 17 September.

Bush said that Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, a stalwart conservative who has served in the administration since 2001, will replace Gonzales for he time being. The President did not specify when or if he would nominate a permanent replacement. A potential replacement will likely face an incredibly difficult confirmation process in the Senate.