Since the United States government made the decision to effectively outlaw online gambling late last year, the list of payment options available to players in the US has rapidly decreased. When the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act was passed into law on October 13th 2006 it became illegal for US banking institutions to allow transfers to or from online casinos. The banking industry was given a 270 day period to create a system that could identify online casino transactions across a spectrum of banking options such as bank wire, ACH, eChecks and credit cards. In reality, the crackdown on the online casinos that chose to continue accepting wagers from US players came far sooner.

The speed at which the banks started to implement the new restrictions was likely increased due to the two former founder directors of Neteller being arrested on January 15th this year. Neteller is an online webwallet that has become synonymous with online casinos due to its popularity with gamblers. At the turn of the century, PayPal was a very popular banking option but they withdrew from the casino industry after they were bought by online auction site – eBay.

No charges have currently been brought against the two founder directors but it is widely suspected that they will be charged with money laundering and may face a custodial sentence of up to 20 years!

The US government have made their intentions extremely clear and many online casinos have already run for the hills and stopped accepting US wagers. The end result is for those few casinos that continue to accept US players, there are now a very limited amount of banking options available.

For those online casinos that are now focusing their attentions outside the States, most banking options remain and the new markets are growing well. So, in summary, if you’re reading this from the US – sorry, we can’t help you guys too much. If you’re outside the USA, it’s business as usual – in fact, a lot of online casinos will be increasing their player offers to attract non-US depositors so you should all benefit.