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American Express Co., Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), Credit card issuers, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)’s PayPal won't be permitting transactions for online gambling sites located in the United States, at least for now.
This news comes as New Jersey is poised to become the 3rd and largest state to begin offering real money online gambling beginning the end of next week. Delaware and Nevada both offer Web gambling for real money to those physically located within their respective states. Websites operating there have experienced some difficulties signing up customers due to credit card rejections from certain issuing banks.
Industry Analyst H2 Gambling Capital believes these rejections pose a significant threat to an industry said to be worth 7.4 billion dollars.
American Bankers Association claims that some Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) issuers worry over the potential liability brought on from underage wagering and violations related to the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which prohibits most forms of Internet gambling at the federal level.
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Although MasterCard and Visa do permit credit card wagering in jurisdictions where the activity is legal, the card issuing banks have the final say.
A spokeswoman for the Bank of America, Anne Pace told the Consensus Press, the bank doesn’t permit the transactions at the present time but is currently reviewing their options.
A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, Natalie Brown said, the bank also doesn’t permit the use of its credit cards for online betting.
PayPal has not permitted transactions for online wagering in the United States since 2002 but does offer this option to some jurisdictions outside the US where the activity is explicitly legal. American Express has never allowed transactions for Internet gambling.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
