Online casino gambling companies have different reactions to the new Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This legislation will prohibit financial institutions from accepting financial transactions between players and foreign gambling companies. The reaction of the online casino has been mixed so far. Much of their reaction seems to be based on whether or not they are publicly traded companies. Some publicly traded gambling companies have announced already that they will stop accepting funds from players. There are about 200 websites from publicly traded companies for online gambling. The remaining websites, about 2,800 of them, are private.
Party Gaming and 888 Holdings have both announced that they will stop accepting financial transactions with customers when the bill is signed into law. 888 Holdings announced they will not accept any real money new customers from the and that their affiliates program will be directed to other countries. Party Gaming has announced that it will stop accepting financial transactions from its customers but that these customers will be allowed to use play money. It is expected that most of the publicly traded casinos will pull out of the market when the law goes into effect.
Sportingbet has announced that it is business as usual for now but that they are evaluating the situation. This is the position of many of the gambling companies, both public and private. The law affects the mechanism for financial transactions. It does not specifically make online casino games, like poker, illegal. It also opens the door for state licensed online casinos. |