POKERSTARS ERA

The most dramatic change in online poker history was without comparison when a consolidated Bill, referred to as Leach/Goodlatte Bill, was tacked onto the SAFE Port Act, which was passed in the American senate on the 29^th of September 2006 and signed into effect by George Bush the 13^th of October same year. 

It is referred to as the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act" (UIGEA).

The main purpose of the bill was to secure American shores against global terrorism. What many politicians did not notice was that there was a note on the back of the bill criminalizing the processing of gaming transactions in the U.S. The politicians proposing the bill were clever enough not to try to label poker as an illegal game but instead made the transactions illegal while trying to link them to global terror.

All online gaming operators were licensed outside USA meaning they did not pay US state or federal taxes. Billions of dollars went untaxed and unregulated by the Federal Government which surely annoyed a lot of politicians.