Current Payment Options for US Online Casino Players
The
"Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act" of October 2006
banned banking institutions from
knowingly transferring funds to
organizations that conduct online
gambling in states where such
activity is forbidden. The
objective was to prevent online
gambling by blocking the flow of
funds without which, gambling
cannot take place.
The laws, as they exist today, do
not specifically prohibit US
citizens from using credit cards or
non-US based electronic payment
methods to transfer funds to online
casinos. The payment options
currently available to US online
casino players are as follows:
The common credit cards such as
Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Diners
are still being used, though some
rejection is being reported.
Click2pay is extremely popular
among existing casino clients, but
is not signing up new clients from
the US.
Wire Transfers are still working
but they are limiting transfers to
$5,000 a week. Western Union is
also still working, but since it is
a public company it is under
pressure to observe the spirit of
the law and may not offer services
for long. ePassporte claims that it
will continue to operate but very
few casinos have this option, so it
is not much use.
Nucharge and Add-Funds are phone
cards that allow transfer of funds
to gaming sites. MyWebATM and
eWalletXpress are e-wallets that
are still available. However
MyWEbATM charges very high fees and
hence is not popular. ECheck and
MoneyGram are other options that
still service gambling
transactions.
The online gambling situation is
very fluid as of now and players
would do well to regularly check
out updates.