Archive for the Payment Methods category
March 26th, 2007
The online gambling industry woke up this morning to learn that online money transfer Giant NETeller has decided to withdraw “no pun intended” from the Canadian and Turkish markets.
Here is a statement the company’s board released to the London Stock Exchange:
The NETELLER Plc Group (”NETELLER” or the “Group”) (LSE: NLR), the leading global independent online money transfer business, today announced several significant changes to its services in a number of markets.
The Group continually assesses the risk profile and status of the markets its serves. Recent actions by regulators, payment processors, and online gaming operators have increased the uncertainty around certain activities related to online gambling in some jurisdictions. The Board of Directors of the Company reached a decision, on 25 March 2007, that the risk to the Group’s ongoing business in Canada and Turkey has increased in the light of such developments. The Board has therefore concluded that the Group will no longer process transfers related to online gambling sites on behalf of Canada or Turkey resident customers.
Reduced Service to Canada
Cessation of Canadian transfers to gambling merchants: the Group will cease processing online gambling related transactions for Canada-resident customers with effect from 12.01 AM MST Monday 9 April 2007.
Suspension of InstaCASH transactions: As of today Monday 26 March 2007, at 12:01 AM MST, Canada-resident customers were no longer able to deposit funds using NETELLER’s instaCASH service either directly or from any online gambling site.
Reduced Service to Turkey
In light of recent legislation passed in Turkey on 28 February 2007, which prohibits certain forms of online gambling to be offered by any “unauthorised” domestic or foreign company to citizens in Turkey, NETELLER has decided to implement a voluntary phased withdrawal of the payment services related to online gambling that it offers customers to the Turkish market.
March 14th, 2007
Everybody is concern about how to withdrawal the money from the online casinos, EcoCard may be the answer, according to gamblers and operators who are having a positive experience with the this third party payment processor.
EcoCard Ltd is a European technology company focusing on alternative payment solutions and payment processing.
One of the hardest hit online gambling companies in terms of sending out payments to customers has been the Prima Poker Network, part of the MicroGaming outfit. This firm has addressed the issue somewhat by offering EcoCard as a viable option for US customers, and it seems to be working.
Using the service does come with a price as one poster explains on the popular TwoPlusTwo.com posting forum:
“Myself and many others have used this (EcoCard) for a cashout. It is worse than it sounds. They charge 10, then if you cashout to the US an intermediary bank charges 15, then your bank will probably charge a wire fee as well. My cashout took a little more than a week and about two weeks from request from prima to bank account. However they do pay and it is not a bad service…Actually it is probably the best service still around.”
Another poster writes:
“I just recieved funds from ecocard. It took about 5 days to go from Prima site to ecocard and another 5 days from ecocard to my bank. The cost was $10 USD for each step (-$20) total. Kind of high in my oppinion .. but at least I recieved my funds.”
March 8th, 2007
Online gamblers will no longer be able to buy virtual gift cards at www.giftcards.com to fund their accounts.
Sometime this weekend, giftcards.com officials removed the virtual gift card choice from their purchasing menu and are now offering only “hard cards,” corporate gift cards, and an ATM card option.
A giftcard.com spokesperson refused to say if the move was related to online gambling.
“There is no comment on any of this,” spokesperson Jason Wolfe said. “We took the service down because we are revamping our fraud system.”
Last week you could buy a virtual gift cards and use it to deposit into a casino within two hours. That made it a great option for U.S. based online gamblers looking to find another deposit method in the post-NETeller era.
And it worked quickly enough that it came close to mimicking the Instacash option once available with NETeller.
Players can still fund their accounts using processors like www.ePassporte.com, but the options are not instant and can take as long as two weeks to process.
March 2nd, 2007
Following NETeller and MyCitadel puling out of the US online gambling market, nearly every third party payment processor did the same this past month. When all the dust cleared, it seemed as if only one remained, ePassporte.
But, ePassporte, one of the few remaining e-wallets available to U.S. online gamblers, is having some difficulty keeping up with demand judging by player communications with the company.
The result is that new clients could be waiting up to three weeks for their accounts to become active. In addition to volume delays, there are also “standard” delays in processing deposits. The average wait time for a deposit to load from a verified bank account is seven business days, according to the site. Several players have been told by harassed customer service reps, who released the following statement recently:
“Due to unusually high call and email volumes, you may experience extended hold times when calling us or there may be a delay receiving a response to your email inquiry. We apologize for the inconvenience. We are exerting all efforts so that we may attend to your phone calls and emails as soon as possible. Your calls and emails will be answered in the order they are received. We appreciate your patience and cooperation.”
There are also fees for loading and withdrawing money. For every $100 loaded into ePassporte, the e-wallet takes $5 or a portion thereof for lesser deposits. Withdrawing money from ePassporte to a bank account carries a $2 fee. If a player upgrades to the Visa Electron, a type of ATM card tied to a personal ePassporte account, he/she can expect to pay $2 per ATM transaction. There is a $35 activation fee for the card.
Visit Payment Methods page for more information.
February 15th, 2007
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced yesterday that they have decided to extend the deadline on whether to indict the NETeller founders Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre. The charges against the pair of transferring billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds will now not be heard until March 16. This means that US customers will have to wait at least a month to recover their money that would have otherwise been spent on casinos and gambling web site sites.
Lawrence and Lefebvre were arrested on January 15 and soon after the FBI froze all of NETeller’s US customer accounts with the purpose of using them as evidence against the company. NETeller have confirmed that figure is approximately $55 million, which lies in isolated trust accounts. US customers provided NETeller with approximately two-thirds of their business.
“As a result of the restrictions placed by third parties, court-ordered seizures and related legal concerns, NETeller is unable to make payments to U.S. customers,” says a posting on the company’s website.
However, the bad news for their US customers is that no timetable has been set for the return of their funds.
NETeller were the online payment processor of choice for many online casino players who wished to fund their playing, with more than 80 percent of its business done with online gambling companies.
