Payout Nightmares Continue With Sportsbooks, Poker Sites
Some of the larger online sports books and poker rooms have been scrambling in recent weeks to incorporate new payment processors following the US seizure of monies from Zip Payments, reportedly operating from the United States.
Much of the attention has focused on BodogLife following a Forbes article that came out this past week, however, Bodog was one of a handful of online gaming ventures that have been adversely affected by this situation.
$9.9 million was recently seized by the US Government from Zip Payments, which conducted business with Bodog and a handful of other high volume online sports books as well as the two largest US-facing online poker sites. Checks issued by Zip began bouncing a few weeks ago as a result of the seizure.
"Zip Payments was one of the biggest of the processors out there and this ‘situation' is really causing problems," a source told Gambling911.com. "There are other processors out there though so these issues should be resolved in the next few weeks."
5 to 7 weeks is the estimated time period in fact.
Some bank wires are coming through from sports books hurt by the seizure, according to reports but the backup delays are said to be enormous. Likewise, bank wires are becoming an option whereas they were not in the past at some online gambling sites.
This is an industry wide problem caused by the current legal climate - specifically the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act.
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com
