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 American online gamblers faced an unexpected crack down by Mastercard today. The credit card giant is apparently toughening its stance on transactions with online gambling companies, no longer allowing them to disguise deposits as other forms of online commerce.
According to numerous online gambling sites such as Doylesroom, Bodog, Absolute Poker, UltimateBet, Cake Poker Network and Sportsbooks the big named card will no longer be able to be used as a depositing method for their sites...at least until they work things out.
You see this is not the first time that Mastercard has "figured out" how gambling sites have covered their methods for disguising deposits. In the past they made a similar announcement only to find that the sites were back up and running with the cards in about two months.
This latest move by Mastercard is most likely related to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which is set to take effect in June of this year pending any dramatic action by congress. The bill signed into law by former President Bush in 2006 makes it illegal for financial institutions to transfer money to internet gambling sites.
So far the bill has only created a sort of cat and mouse game for gambling operators and despite some major setbacks it is the sites that are winning out. Every year they continue to build upon hundreds of billions of dollars in US player gambling revenues that go untaxed because of unnecessary regulation.
Despite the fact that the UIGEA is not yet being enforced expect to see more companies making deposits difficult for us yanks in the near future.
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