\nBy CHRIS SIEROTY
\n\tLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL<\/p>\n
\tAs more states debate legalizing online gaming, the three states that permit Internet wagering have experienced few complications beyond some banks and financial institutions refusing to approve credit and debit card transactions.<\/p>\n
\tCredit card issuers J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, American Express won\u2019t allow gamblers to use their credit or debit cards to deposit money into online gaming accounts. That goes for both online poker and sports betting in Nevada.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe don\u2019t allow credit card transactions for this activity,\u201d said Steve O\u2019Halloran, director of public relations and public affairs for Chase Card and Merchant Services.<\/p>\n
\tNevada, Delaware and New Jersey all offer online gaming, whether its poker, slot machines or sports wagering.<\/p>\n
\tSanette Chao, a spokeswoman for American Express, said the financial services company \u201cprohibits the use of the card for gambling services.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cGambling services, historically, account for a high number of card member credit losses and customer service disputes,\u201d Chao said in an email.<\/p>\n
\tIt\u2019s a similar story at Wells Fargo, according to Natalie Brown.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIn compliance with regulation GG (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006), we prohibit the use of consumer credit cards for Internet gambling,\u201d said Brown, vice president of consumer lending communications with Wells Fargo. \u201cThe networks (Visa, MasterCard and American Express) monitor the merchant category codes and block charges that don\u2019t comply with federal regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBrown said Wells Fargo also has controls in place to monitor for regulatory compliance.<\/p>\n
\tIn Nevada, Caesars Entertainment and Station Casinos operate online poker sites, while Station Casinos, William Hill, CG Technology (formerly Cantor Gaming) and Nevada Sports Books offer online and mobile sports wagering.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhat the industry has done is take a conservative approach or response to the legalization of online gambling,\u201d said Tobin Prior, CEO of Ultimate Gaming, a subsidiary of Station Casinos Inc. \u201cThat can be frustrating, but we work with customers to find alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPrior said Ultimate Gaming customers in Nevada and in New Jersey have options to fund their accounts, including cash deposits at any Station Casino in Southern Nevada or at the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City.<\/p>\n
\tOther options include electronic check or wire transfer, Prior said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYou wish everything went smoothly,\u201d said Seth Palansky, a spokesman for the World Series of Poker and Caesars Interactive Entertainment. \u201cIt\u2019s not the reality. It\u2019s a new business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPalansky said there is an ongoing education regarding online gaming transactions in Nevada and the two other states where it\u2019s legal.<\/p>\n
\tWSOP.com and Ultimate Poker, two websites licensed by Nevada regulators, averaged 110 and 90 transactions per day, respectively, for the week ending Friday, according to Pokerscout.com.<\/p>\n
\tOutside the U.S., Pokerstars.com was the largest website with an average of 25,500, followed by 888poker averaging 2,900, the industry website reported.<\/p>\n
\tWells Fargo and other financial institutions are concerned about processing illegal bets, including those placed by underage gamblers or by customers who might not be physically present in Nevada when a bet is made.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe potential for fraud is way lower than it was previously,\u201d Prior said. \u201cWe have proven we can verify a customer\u2019s age and where they are playing. Denying plastic \u2026 is holding back industry growth potential.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCG Technology is unusual because it accepts credit and debit cards to open accounts. The bookmaker, which operates eight sports book in Southern Nevada and online race and sports betting apps statewide, does not take the cards directly, but uses a vendor payment processor.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe cannot accept credit for gaming transactions,\u201d CG Technology said in a statement. \u201cOur vendor payment processor processes a cash advance on credit cards. This is the method used since inception of the program (in March).\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe bookmaker added that it\u2019s \u201cworth noting that transaction volumes for (credit and debit cards) are very low.\u201d CG Technology is \u201clargely a cash business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe rejection of credit cards to deposit money into accounts comes at a crucial time for the online and mobile gaming business. A H2 Gambling Capital report expected mobile gaming to reach $25.8 billion in global gross win by 2018. That would equate to about 5 percent of all gambling, according H2 Gambling Capital.<\/p>\n
\tJoe Pappano, senior vice president and general manager of Vantiv Gaming Solutions, is confident acceptance of credit cards will come, but it will take a few years as gambling and banking regulators, online operators and politicians need to cooperate.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe\u2019ve been processing payments for banks for over 40 years electronically,\u201d Pappano said. \u201cWe handle payments for many e-commerce sites, so we\u2019ve taken that same infrastructure and adapted it for Internet gaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPappano said banks can be cautious when it comes to processing online gaming payments. Launched in October, Vantiv Gaming Solutions, based in Cincinnati, and is a subsidiary of Fifth Third Bank, has been processing Visa and MasterCard in Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat\u2019s why we have educate them \u2026 to sustain positive movement in I-Gaming,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to remember it has only been legal for about seven months, starting in Nevada then Delaware and New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPappano attributed banks\u2019 reluctance to approve gaming transactions to Congress passing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. The federal law banned businesses from accepting payments for illegal online bets.<\/p>\n
\tPrior reminded banks that betting online is legal in these three states, just as is using a credit or debit card to shop online.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By CHRIS SIEROTY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL As more states debate legalizing online gaming, the three states that permit Internet wagering have experienced few complications beyond some banks and financial institutions refusing to approve credit and debit card transactions. Credit card…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}