EcoCard IS Dumping US

[ahtram88]

SORRY I STARTED A NEW THREAD..... WAS A MISTAKE. (Pinababy69 I liked your suggestion to get all the EcoCard info. together.....and then I went and started a new thread...)

PLEASE NOTE THAT SOMEONE ELSE RECEIVED A MORE POSITIVE REPLY TO EMAIL INQUIRERY AT Eco. THEIR EMAIL SAID THAT THEY WOULD CONTINUE TO PROVIDE SERVICES FOR EXISTIING MEMBERS.

I had emailed EcoCard asking them if the rummors were true. Sure doesn't sound good....

Here is their reply:

EcoCard Support Team to me
show details 4:36 am (3 minutes ago)

Dear Client,

Thank you for your contacting us.

It is true that Ecocard is reviewing its position in the US market, and will put in place whatever measures are required of financial institutions if and when proposals are published by the US government in accordance with the recently passed UIGEA bill. Of course it is possible that other payment methods may be made available to you by the sites which you frequent, and if you trust those operators to suggest dependable companies then it is your decision whether to use those services or not. Ecocard will not promote these services.

If Ecocard needs to take action to block gambling sites for US members, it will be because it is legally required to do so, and the company will therefore not involve itself in any other payment solutions that may be considered to be in breach of US law.

Please feel free to contact us should you require any further assistance.

Kind Regards,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adrian
EcoCard Customer Service
Voice mail: +44 (0) 870 763 0177
Fax: +44 870 763 0188
Working hours:
GMT: 7 AM - 5 PM
PST: 11 PM - 9 AM
EST: 2 AM - 12 PM
support@ecocard.com
www.ecocard.com

ahtram88

[SlotsWizard]

If Ecocard needs to take action to block gambling sites for US members, it will be because it is legally required to do so

Funny, I thought they have been legally required to do so for the last 9 months.

[lojo]

Funny, I thought they have been legally required to do so for the last 9 months.

Pretty hard to follow the rules if there aren't any

Eco did send out disclaimers several months ago stating that accounts can't be used for gaming by US'ers though. Don't ask don't tell, your money may or may not be safe with us, but we covered our asses kind of thing.

[swampwitch]

And in the meantime, US players ARE using EcoCard to deposit in casinos.
I'm not buying the whole "$500" in transactions thing. What would be the difference to EcoCard HOW much in transactions anyone had done? None.

This could very well be another instance of yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theater. Panic for nothing. (Not by you, Martha. You, I like.)

Or it could be on the up and up. Either way, there's a distinctly fishy smell there.

[SlotsWizard]

Pretty hard to follow the rules if there aren't any

My interpretation of the bill was that the meat of it (banks are not supposed to honor online gambling transactions) took effect as soon as it was signed into law, even though the banking procedures/changes had not yet been established or promulgated... and then after 270 days the federal what-have-you was to publish a how-to guide for the banks in case they hadn't figured it out yet (granted, there needed to be a change to ACH which is run by the federal government). There was a thread a while ago about someone whose bank had started denying ACH transactions to Neteller... so clearly, something could have been done but obviously it's easier from a bank's perspective to wait for the fed to tell you how to do it.

[swampwitch]

banks are not supposed to honor online gambling transactions

Exactly. So, you can't fund a gambling account from your BANK. But technically, using your bank to fund an online ewallet is not using the bank to fund a gambling account. The ewallet funds the gambling account. There is no law that says an overseas ewallet cannot fund a gambling account, and there is no law that says a US citizen cannot have an overseas ewallet account. Simple.

I know, I know...tell that to those poor Neteller guys...

[SlotsWizard]

Exactly. So, you can't fund a gambling account from your BANK. But technically, using your bank to fund an online ewallet is not using the bank to fund a gambling account. The ewallet funds the gambling account. There is no law that says an overseas ewallet cannot fund a gambling account, and there is no law that says a US citizen cannot have an overseas ewallet account. Simple.

I know, I know...tell that to those poor Neteller guys...

You make a good point.

But I went and re-read the wording of the bill and who it applies to, and I'm no lawyer but to me this definition sounds like it would include companies like Neteller/EcoCard/etc.:

(4) FINANCIAL TRANSACTION PROVIDER.— The term ‘financial transaction provider’ means a creditor, credit card issuer, financial institution, operator of a terminal at which an electronic fund transfer may be initiated, money transmitting business, or international, national, regional, or local payment network utilized to effect a credit transaction, electronic fund transfer, stored value product transaction, or money transmitting service, or a participant in such network, or other participant in a designated payment system.

[lojo]

Intersting to note that the latest nacha bulletin was January 16th. Here it states "...the full scope of any existing prohibition against internet gambling, and the processing of payments to internet gambling sites, under federal law is unclear and has not been fully tested in the courts"

Even so, as you said, if a bank knew about uigea and did transactions to a known gambling site, they might face penalties. What they don't know won't hurt them though.
There might be a fraud problem for a player who duped their bank, but I seriously doubt it. My intent when funding an ewallet is mine alone to know and what I do with the money from there is my business, not dubyas, eh?

edit: Just read a couple more posts... add offshore ewallet

[SlotsWizard]

if a bank knew about uigea and did transactions to a known gambling site, they might face penalties. What they don't know won't hurt them though.

Which of course will be their defense should problems arise.

My intent when funding an ewallet is mine alone to know and what I do with the money from there is my business, not dubyas, eh?

One would hope! But our president has done a lot in the last 8 years to make everyone else's business his, so who knows.

[swampwitch]

There might be a fraud problem for a player who duped their bank, but I seriously doubt it. My intent when funding an ewallet is mine alone to know and what I do with the money from there is my business, not dubyas, eh?

And logically, this should be why the law is unenforceable.