A player on the new WSOP.com online poker site in Nevada has highlighted a potential problem with credit card deposits, perhaps caused by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.
The controversial federal act, passed attached to an unrelated measure in a late night session of Congress, seeks to disrupt what it defines as illegal online gambling financial transactions, and was approved at a time when legalised internet gambling in the United States was a remote possibility.
Now that state-by-state legalisation is a fait accompli, the UIGEA could present complications as financial institutions wrestle with which transactions are legal and those that are not.
The confusion was illustrated in a twoplustwo forum post this week in which a WSOP.com player reported encountering depositing problems with his Visa credit card, which was rejected as “declined by bank”.
The bank knew nothing of the rejection, which was presumably actioned by the credit card company.
The forum representative for WSOP.com was quickly onto the issue, posting the following advice for players:
“Some credit card companies may block gaming transactions. Contact your credit card issuer to find out if this charge was blocked intentionally. Let them know that this is something you want and that WSOP.com online poker is fully regulated and legal in the state of Nevada. If the credit card issuer will still not let you make this transaction, you may want to try a different card.”