More stupidity in the war on how you waste your money
A while back, the US banned online gambling. Well, that’s not true. They banned banks from processing payments to and from sites that offer illegal gambling. Illegal gambling is undefined, of course. Excluded from the ban was horse racing and other gambling that rich people engage in but people like me who enjoy their $0.25/$0.50 no limit hold-em games are out of luck. Party Poker pulled from the US market and its stock price went from about $160 to less than $40 per share instantly. After the bill passed, yours truly pulled his money out of Party Poker.
The US Ban takes effect 270 days after the bill was signed. The bill was snuck into a larger port security bill under cover of darkness. The bill also cost the author of the bill his congressional seat. Seems people don’t re-elect dickheads. The bill is also why Bill Frist will not be our governor, count on it. Some poker sites fought on, like pokerstars and continue to allow US residents to play. Good for them but when the ban goes into effect, no US banks will transfer funds. Enter Neteller.
Neteller, which is not a bank, still offered money transfer services to gaming sites. Well, until this week because US agents arrested the founders of the site for . . . well, I’m not sure what for. The article states it’s for handling billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds. Well, that doesn’t exactly sound illegal if you take out the word illegal. And since illegal is undefined, I’m guessing it’s just bullying. Neteller has pulled itself from the US. This is devastating the online gambling industry:
According to gambling portal Gambling911.com, Full Tilt Poker depended on NETeller for 75 percent of transactions, and the world’s biggest site, Pokerstars, used NETeller for around 60 percent of wagers.
January 18th, 2007 at 11:38 am
I was under the impression that Neteller is Canadian based. (At least, when some jerk used their service to suck $800 from my bank account, they were.)
If that’s the case, how does the US govt have jurisdiction over them?
January 18th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Via the “big stick” method. Note how the two (former?) employees were arrested when they traveled to the United States. On vague charges even.
Neteller took the hint, and “voluntary” suspended transfers to and from US accounts. I’m sure things will go much easier now for Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre in jail.
Meanwhile, sales of state lottery tickets and scratch off amusements continue unabated.
January 24th, 2007 at 9:51 am
[…] You’ll recall that Neteller recently got out of the online money transfer business for gambling sites after its founders were arrested while changing planes. But that pesky market has already created an alternative. […]