Neteller Disallows US Transactions
The big news hitting the headlines today is that Neteller have ceased to provide an online banking system for US based players. From now on, players based in the US will have to find alternative ways of paying for their gaming.
This follows the arrests 2 days ago of two former owners of Neteller on Money Laundering charges for allowing Neteller to provide online banking services where cash was used to fund sports betting, illegal online in the US.
Most online casino and poker rooms have been expecting this for some time now and have made sure that other options are available for online gamblers. If you are in the US, some states, 9 in total, have banned online gambling while country-wide will be illegal for banks to process money transactions to fund online gambling. Processes to stop this have to be in place later in the year.
The grey area in the US legislation is that it doesn't make online gambling in casinos or poker sites illegal. The new legislation was introduced as part of the "Safe Ports Bill" related to terrorism and was sneakly added to this bill to get it passed congress. Personally, I'm glad I don't live in the US if they heads of Government can trick it's electorate into accepting bills and get away with it. It's a restriction of civil liberties in my opinion.
SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO PLAYERS?
If you are resident outside of the US and use Neteller, they you are fine. Neteller itself isn't illegal and is a safe and trusted method of financing transactions online. However US players will have to change their details in the casino or poker room in which they play and use Neteller so that they can be paid by Wire Transfer or Cheque if they have money in their accounts.
There are other methods of playing online and paying for it and the main ones are listed below. Not all sites accept all of these payment options, and some don't accept US players at all but if the site you play in does accept you then you may want to change to one of the following options:
Visa & Master Card – The Best and easiest option;
InstaDebit – Similar to Neteller;
ePassporte;
ATMonline;
Click2pay;
Central Coin;
UK Debit Cards;
Moneybookers.
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