OTHER ONLINE GAMBLING E-WALLETS EXPECTED TO FILL NETELLER VOID IN U.S.

HERALD TRIBUNE
The Associated Press
Published: January 18, 2007

LAS VEGAS: Though payment processor Neteller PLC is the latest and largest such company to pull out of the lucrative but illegal U.S. online gambling market, industry observers said other e-wallet sites would come forward to take its place…

…The arrests were the latest in a series of enforcement actions by the U.S. government against the online gambling industry. The crackdown has targeted the financial middlemen who sprung up after credit card companies and PayPal gave in to pressure to stop processing online gambling transactions from U.S. customers in 2001…..

…”What you’re finding with the Internet gambling sites is the publicly traded ones and prominent ones are leaving,” said David Stewart, an online gambling expert and lawyer with Washington, D.C.-based firm Ropes & Gray LLP…

…”The entities that are more visible and are more transparent can’t take the heat,” he said. “And all the rest of them are still in the business.”

…Michael Bolcerek, president of the online poker lobby group, Poker Players Alliance, said the withdrawal of brand name providers would encourage the emergence of less trustworthy money dealers.

“People are going to migrate to nonpublic, less transparent methodologies,” he said.

Poker magazine publisher Eric Morris of Bluff Media LLC said the withdrawal of PayPal and major credit card companies from the U.S. online gambling business in 2001 caused a panic that didn’t last.

“The industry took a bit of a dive and came back stronger than ever before,” he said. “The bottom line is that people are going to find a way.”

MORE – READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT HERALD TRIBUNE

Author: GamesAndCasino