Neteller is giving in...

My feeling is that this is just the tip of the iceberg. I strongly feel that the major sites(Poker Stars, Full Tilt, etc.) will ban US customers within the next year.

The reason being is that I feel that sometime in the next 3-5 years, online poker will be licensed and regulated. These companies are not going to want to taunt the American government and then possibly face problems when the game is regulated. Not to mention the strong possibility of being arrested.

I've always felt that these sites would say that they are staying, knowing that they would probably shut down US customers at some point, just to keep making money until the final decision is made.

Let me say that I hope that I am wrong about all this, but I don't think so. Time will tell.

[Tofu_boy]

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no worries

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NO WORRIES???
this is just going to far now. No Firepay still ok but no Neteller????
even if new company coming soon. how many people will trust them??? and you think Fish will follow???
The last couples of days so tight soon it even harder to win [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]
my day not even start yet and now this news really shut down on me. my income mostly from Poker and sportbook and now??? wtf Neteller will affect both [censored] it . [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[coach88]

there are other payment processors:
* moneybookers
* citadel checks and echeck
* mycitadel wallet
* click2pay

these guys are found on many of the major poker sites

[03 Z4]

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All the sites have to do is create a deal with a bank to allow US customers to easily create an account with that bank. The law doesn't stop bank to bank transfers, just banks to gambling sites.

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Do you really think there is a difference between
A. US banks transacting w/ gambling company (illegal) vs.
B. Us banks transacting w/ gambling company's banks?

I very much doubt it.

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Do you think its simple for a US bank to cut off ties with a foreign bank? do you think that wouldn't cause a world of chaos and foreign relation issues?

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Who are the "major banks" that transact w/ gambling sites do business besides gambling? Neteller certainly isn't one of them.

[jrz1972]

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Who are the "major banks" that transact w/ gambling sites do business besides gambling?

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Royal Bank of Scotland.

(I don't know if RBS is still serving sites like Stars, but you get the idea).

[CaptHomer]

PokerStars keeps there money in the Royal bank of Scotland.

[03 Z4]

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PokerStars keeps there money in the Royal bank of Scotland.

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Can you deposit $ from US banks into RBS, then from RBS to PS now?

If not, then RBS is useless for US players.

[CaptHomer]

If you can get an application for the RSB to open an account you could, you could then link it to a poker site.
The problem is opening an account at a foreign bank is difficult. The poker sites have to make it easy to open an account at one of their banks.
If it isn't easy then the fish aren't going to go to the trouble.

[Archon_Wing]

This might be wishful thinking... I do think this sucks and we'll need to find something else.

Neteller can't release a statement saying "Screw the law, it doesn't apply to us" That just wouldn't be good. They could say they will comply and then enforce it half-assedly. Something along the line of having a message like "The legality of this transfer varies by jurisdiction. It is your responsbility to determine said legality; due to the large amount of transfers we cannot review each individual transfer" or even sticking it in the T&C which nobody will read.

Of coures, this is just trying to be optimistic. But considering that the gov't probaly won't be able to enforce the law on banks that ARE in the US, going through all the motions might be enough and take off the crosshair that the DOJ might be having on them

"Are you going to obey this Law? There's no way for us to enforce it, but we'd like to make sure so you won't be giving us trouble"
"Of course we'll follow the law"
"Ok, OMG that XYZ site over there is openly defying that law. Let's deal with them and go out for donuts"
*Business as usual

[steamboatin]

I got my $32 out of Neteller.