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One can truly say that the reaction of the United States of America to the Online Gambling
industry is something that alternates from hot to cold then cold to hot and so on. It's quite
confusing, really, but then again, this is nothing new. Just recently, VISA announced that they
too would block online casino payments – this means that Americans will no longer be able
to make their online casino transactions using their VISA credit cards. Considering how some
states were just warming up to the idea of online gambling, this really comes as quite a surprise,
not to mention a huge blow to the online gambling industry too.
Following MasterCard's Walk Out
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Two weeks ago, MasterCard announced that they would be blocking all American online casino deposits.
Now, with VISA's announcement that they would be doing the same thing,
the two biggest credit card
companies in the US have effectively abandoned the online casino industry. However, only America is
affected as of now.
Other countries will go on with business as usual. There is quite a bit of worry
that this block will also be implemented in Canada, however, no announcement has been made to this effect.
With the country's two biggest credit card companies bailing out on the gambling industry, many customers
were more than peeved at the developments. However, if VISA and Mastercard are this determined to make this
decision despite the protests of the online gambling community, then they certainly must have very good reasons.
The Reasons Behind
Unfortunately, the two gargantuan credit card companies have decided to skimp out on making a definitive
statement on why exactly they decided to block online casino transactions. People are speculating that they
are merely preparing for the imminent implementation of the UIGEA. With the UIGEA in effect, any form of
online gambling will eventually be banned in the whole country. However, there's also a chance that the
UIGEA will be overturned. If this becomes the case, then VISA and Mastercard will certainly have quite a
lot of regretting to do.
For now, though, players have to use other means of making their online casino transactions. 3rd party
money transfer sites such as NETeller and Moneybookers will certainly have a boom of customers, considering
how thousands will be left without a payment option with VISA and Mastercard now gone. Indeed, these money
transfer services are probably the happiest ones to come out of this situation.
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