CNBC wants to know about online gambling payments
By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Mar 8, 2021
How effective has the ban on financial transactions been?
How effective has the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act been? seems to be the question that broadcaster CNBC is asking this week.
In an article on Internet gambling, writer Darren Rovell noted that it’s easy enough to bet online. But collecting your winnings isn’t a sure thing.
Years ago, Rovell wrote that the government was never going to stop online gambling run by companies with fifteen different names in countries outside the United States. His view has changed, and he wrote this week that the U.S. government was coming closer to halting the pastime by effectively crippling Internet online gambling payment systems.
“First, it became hard to get your money to the online books,” Rovell explains. “The credit cards bowed out. Next was Paypal. Then went Neteller and Firepay.”
Rovell zeros in on Zip Payments as an example, claiming that player message boards have been “lighting up” with complaints about no or slow payment and bounced cheques. When he tried to obtain a comment from Zip Payments there was no response – his call went to a message service and was not returned.
Bodog is examined, too. Rovell says that complaints about Bodog’s sportsbook activities include the firm telling its clients that instead of the five to 10 business days to withdraw their money, it will take closer to 40 business days. Once again, obtaining a company perspective proved impossible when calls placed to Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, which owns the North American license for Bodog, were not returned.
Rovell is intrigued by how pervasive the payment problem has become, and he invites Internet gamblers who have received rubber cheques or have been told that payment would take more than a month, to share their stories by emailing sportsbiz@cnbc.com.
All e-mails must include full name details of the incident. Names and identification of any sort will not be used in the story.
Infopowa news was a staple of Casinomeister’s news from 2000 until 2019. Brian Cullingworth was the main writer, contributor, and was one of the most knowledgeable persons I have ever known involved in the online casino industry.
We first met in January 2001 at the ICE in London where I observed him going booth to booth interviewing online casino, software, and licensing jurisdiction representatives. Brian was also heavily involved with our forum as “Jetset“, he was involved as an informal consultant to eCOGRA, the OPA, and was a player advocate who assisted countless aggrieved players with his connections to industry folks. He also published “Casino Cautions” via Infopowa news for quite a number of years. These can be found in our news archives.
His passing in February 2019 was a dark day for us. He will be forever missed.
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