US Online Players Find An Easy New Way To Play
Surprised it took this long?
I have been posting the past few months about the US ban of all online payment processors which were responsible for funding offshore gambling. The federal attack of online gambling has been very well publicized and I have to marvel at their success.
However, we all knew that it would not last…
You can’t ask the US players betting 6-9 Billion dollar a year offshore just to stop cold turkey. I actually wrote that in a recent post:
It is impossible to kill off Internet Gambling. Especially–US players.
Perhaps these recent problems will slow the rapid growth (like we have seen in the past year or two) of online gaming, but ‘online gambling’ is not going away.
In fact, I’ll wager, that the tech savvy youth of today will also soon return with multiple online US betting solutions for home PC users. * Anti Online Gambling: Feds Play ‘Whack-A-Mole’ With Online Payment Processors
That post was January 26th, about one month ago. Here is the first ‘work-around’ I’ve seen this month. The information comes from poker writer Ryan McLane. His article just appeared in RTG Online. Its a good one!
US poker enthusiast are currently playing online using prepaid credit card gift cards for direct account funding into offshore casinos and sports books.
The article says visit a Target store and pick up a prepaid VISA gift card, but in reality these type cards are sold in just about every convenient store, super market and shopping mall in America. Hey, if you are like me and a bit lazy, just type in this URL, www.giftcards.com and buy them without leaving your home.
The fast purchase of a Visa gift card can be made online using your credit card OR in any brick and mortar shop using cash. The card you purchase online is a virtual gift card, meaning you just get the number and CVV in your email shortly after your purchase. Ryan writes:
Giftcards.com was originally designed as a way to send plastic or virtual gift cards – which can be used anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted — to friends or loved ones. Now, these gift cards are one of only ways left for Americans to transfer money electronically to online casinos and poker rooms.
Apparently, by using a prepaid ‘gift card’ at the casino web instead of the one with your embossed name on it - the payment is acceptable and easily processed by the casino web. Prepaid virtual cards I have used in the past did NOT have a physical address attached to the account. During processing any address typed in got a green lighted for approval!
That is…any US address, again, a US address was required for these cards. I believe that is an actual regulation, ironic isn’t it??
The “Work Around”
Ryan says:
The transaction is completed the same way; however, you use the virtual card information to avoid the banking restrictions placed on regular credit cards.
….and the moment by moment instant gaming replay.
Monday
1.) Heard about using gift card deposits from a fellow Full Tilt player.Tuesday
2.) 10 a.m. – Referenced Grubby’s Blog and learned about www.giftcards.com.3.) 10:15 a.m. - Logged onto the above mentioned site. Scoured the Web site to make sure it was a safe for conducting financial transactions.
4.) 10:16 a.m. – Decided what the hell, it’s worth a shot.
5.) 10:17 a.m. – Purchased a virtual gift card.
6.) 10:25 a.m. – Received the “gift” I sent to myself in my personal email box.
7.) 10:30 a.m. – Called www.giftcards.com to verify my identity. Yes it’s me - now give me my money baby.
8.) 12:30 a.m. – A confirmation appears in my email box with a link to verify my new card. I logged onto the site and was immediately transferred to a picture of my new virtual visa card — complete with card number, expiration date, and three-digit security code.
9.) 12:35 a.m. – Logged onto Full Tilt Poker and went to the cashier. My card worked without delay. I deposited the full amount, minus the $.30 service charge.
10.) 12:36 a.m – Two hours…hooray! I shook my virtual fist at Bill Frist.
Stay tuned here for what I can only guess will be about a dozen more US player ‘work arounds’ in the coming months. Thank goodness I don’t gamble much anymore. I just write about it.
Remember this is digital money, its new, its flexible and its tough to legislate.
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POSTED IN: Online Prepaid Cards
5 opinions for US Online Players Find An Easy New Way To Play
DigitalMoneyWorld.com - US Online Gamblers Still Playing, ‘Work Around Number’ Two For February
Feb 28, 2007 at 1:13 pm
[…] Lesser known online payment options for US players are now becoming popular. How long will it last? No one knows, but here is the second US method I have seen this month. The first ‘work around’ was also a prepaid card. […]
Mark Herpel
Mar 10, 2007 at 8:27 am
McLane comes through with a timely update:
http://www.rgtonline.com/
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Giftcards.com cancels virtual visa option
February 27, 2007
by Ryan McLane
Online gamblers will no longer be able to buy virtual gift cards at http://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.”
Casino City reported last week that 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 http://www.ePassporte.com, but the options are not instant and can take as long as two weeks to process.
katie
Apr 20, 2007 at 7:51 am
i would like some info on which casinos will exept a payment method of prepaid visa giftcard that is purchased at a store if you can email me a list or just a few casinos that exept this method of payment I woiuld be very gratefull as I am having a hard time finding tham thankyou
Frank lettieri
Jul 22, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Ive been only on this site for 1 month i put in around 800 dollars a lot for me. Now here is my problem more then 300 has been lost to disconnections. Now my last 100 i was up money ther was a disconnect now i cant even get logged on the site ,i still have 100 im my account ive writtenn 15 emails to there support system yet 43000 other people are playing ther but i cant ,please give me an answer or help
Mark
Jul 22, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Some help….Stop Gambling.
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