Bank of America, Wells Fargo Rejecting Online Gaming Transactions in New US Markets

Published on November 17th, 2013 6:52 pm EST

According to a recent article on Bloomberg.com (link below), numerous banks and credit card companies are continuing to reject online gaming transactions, even in US markets that have legalized online gaming.

According to Bloomberg, the following banks, payment systems and credit card companies are still rejecting all credit card transactions that involve online gambling:

-Bank of America
-Wells Fargo
-American Express
-Paypal
-Discover Financial Services

Visa and Mastercard are both allowing online gaming transactions to take place, provided that they originate from states in which online gaming has been legalized. The problem, though, is that banks have the final say, and they can choose to disallow online gaming transactions if they wish.

This situation has obviously created issues for the newly opened Nevada and Delaware online gaming markets, as many customers have had their deposits blocked.

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The main players in the Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey markets will now be charged with the task of trying to alter the online gaming policies of companies such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Paypal. Some of the companies seem to be open to revisiting their policy towards online gambling, while others (American Express) seem to be steadfastly against ever allowing online gambling transactions using their cards. These companies are citing liability issues (underage gamblers using their cards, out-of-state players using their cards) as the main reason why they continue to disallow the transactions in markets where online gaming is legal.

In the end, it all comes down to money, and as soon as these companies believe that revenues > potential liabilities, they will likely start allowing the transactions on their networks.

Source: Bloomberg.com - Online Casinos Hobbled as Credit-Card Issuers Reject Bets

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Filed Under: Poker Legal Issues