Following the passing into law of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), its been difficult for US players to find safe, reliable methods to make deposits into their favorite casino, poker room or sports book.
Solutions exist, of course, but it’s not always easy to find a match-up between your chosen casino and preferred deposit method.
The biggest casualty of UIGEA was, of course, NETeller, which had dominated the market following the departure of PayPal. Both of those methods acted as so-called ewallets intermediaries that allowed customers to fund their casino accounts from their bank accounts, without the final recipient having to see their bank account details online casino philippines.
In the early days of online gambling, this was important as not all casinos could be trusted, and this barrier served to increase customer confidence. These days, players have to be more trusting of the casinos they’re playing with. The advantage of this is that now very few disreputable casinos exist, the ones that still have stood the test of time and can be seen as trustworthy.
So, what options do players now have? Credit cards, of course (though some banks will prevent gambling transactions), debit cards and instant bank transfers are the most obvious ones.
But in a classic case of necessity being the mother of invention, the casinos are finding more and more ways to allow players to fund their accounts. Its beyond the scope of this article to give precise details on a method and casino basis, but casinos exist that allow easy financial transactions for US-based players that are completely safe and legal if you know where to find them.
UIGEA was meant to be the end of internet gambling. Although it has undoubtedly affected the market, with both casinos and players pulling out of the US, along with the payment processors, the core market that remains is both strong and vibrant.
There is a huge upsurge in online gambling expected when the so-called baby boom generation started to retire. These people will be internet-savvy, have disposable income, and will recently be told that they can’t spend their money in a way that they see fit.
These people will demand to be allowed to gamble online if they so wish. The largest demographic for online gambling is the 45-65 female group, and this is a massive lobby that no government should ignore. With regime change expected in the USA in 2008, all involved with the online gambling industry are hoping for a more liberal attitude to an individual’s right to choose how to spend the money they’ve earned!