Group Prepares To Process Online Gambling Transactions In US

February 10, 2010
Posted By April Gardner
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com

The rest of the world appears convinced that the Internet gambling laws are about to change in the US. That belief is what has driven the UC Group, a UK-based payment processing company, to create a US subsidiary that will be prepared to process online gambling transactions in the country.

SecureTrading is the US subsidiary of the UC Group. The company, which is run by several former employees of MasterCard, does not foresee any delay in the processing once the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is overturned.

"Momentum for regulated Internet gambling in the US has been building for some time," said Chris Thom. former Chief Operating Officer at MasterCard, "As Congress prepares to take the final step, SecureTrading Inc.'s turnkey system is primed to enable our customers to go live the moment Internet gambling is regulated."

Representative Barney Frank has introduced legislation that would overturn the UIGEA. Frank also has laid the groundwork in the legislation proposal for a regulated online gambling industry in the US.

In recent months, there has been a growing number of lawmakers that have joined in Frank's crusade. His legislation now has more than sixty-five co-sponsors, and several have proposed different forms of Internet gambling legislation themselves.

Although the UC Group is already equipped with many of the regulatory provisions that would be in a new system, any non-compliance could cost online casinos to lose their gaming license. Anti-fraud and money laundering tools are used already in the UC group's UK business.

wow very encouraging... good stuff

Well the current owners of MasterCard and Visa beg to differ.....They are cracking down on transactions not looking to make more of them...
This is from Poker News Daily yesterday..

Online Poker Visa and MasterCard Deposit Woes Explained
By Dan Cypra for POKER NEWS DAILY | Posted on February 09, 2010

In recent days, online poker players trying to use Visa and MasterCard credit cards to deposit funds into their accounts have experienced major setbacks. Due to what eGaming Review dubbed an “overnight tightening of restrictions,” deposits are now down sharply on some of the industry’s largest sites. Poker News Daily sat down with an insider in the world of payment processing to break down what happened.

Poker News Daily: Do you believe that it was ever acceptable for MasterCard to process an online poker transaction after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in the United States in 2006?

It hasn't been legal for MasterCard or Visa for over 10 years now, so this is nothing new to U.S.-facing companies in particular. What is new is the way they have caught people who were circumventing their rules.

PND: Are all transactions related to internet gambling blocked or just credit card deposits?

They are not blocked everywhere. Some seem to be operating MasterCard with no issues.

PND: Are daily transaction counts down as a result or are online poker players finding other ways to get money online?

From what I have been told, cash in is down significantly. Obviously, if you take a credit card channel as big as MasterCard away from your portfolio, there will be a big hit.

PND: Do players realize that their funds aren’t being deposited using credit cards?

The players are not notified. The deposits go through and they will still be billed for the transaction. The issue is that the gaming company never receives the funds, as they are "intercepted." The processor the gaming company used then has their account with MasterCard closed and they are fined; this is usually passed on to the gaming company directly.

PND: Does a player lose the intercepted funds?

If MasterCard closes the middleman down, they keep all funds frozen until they ascertain what happened. The player gets billed and knows nothing. The player gets his money in his gaming account and has his credit card billed. We basically just gave him free money. These companies do not settle instantly with the poker rooms and that is where the big risk comes. MasterCard doesn’t settle with the processor instantly either.

PND: How did MasterCard block internet gambling transactions?

Rumor has it that they audited thousands upon thousands of transactions manually. They looked at coded declines and then at subsequent approved transactions. This would tell them that they were being "bounced" to another uncoded source. They deemed that these transactions were illegal and closed down the processing account attached to them.
PND: Is the recent MasterCard blocking due to the UIGEA, charge backs, or some combination of both?

I'm not sure about their motives. MasterCard has always been more aggressive than others with this. We have been warned for many months that this was coming, but there is no way of knowing until it actually happens. As always, this industry is resilient and will bounce back. It always has and it always will.

PND: What has been the reaction of players you've talked to at your site?

Players are used to cards being declined fairly regularly. Obviously, some want to know why, so we try to direct them to other trusted methods such as e-wallets wherever possible.

PND: Can online poker players use debit cards to deposit?

MasterCard does not run debit cards. Visa or the bank runs them usually. I know that Canada shut off most debit cards to poker companies last year. TD, Scotia Bank, and RBC all stopped too.

thanks PPP good read

Master Card and Visa are just dumb. They want to appease the government for some reason.

They could get rates of 30% or more from degenerates (or people in the hole for a few grand) ... and with the bankruptcy law changes that that Bushie made for them, these people would have a hard time walking away from their debt.

In any case, I hope someone takes over this huge chunk of business and leaves those two companies out in the cold.

Idiot Franks bill wouldn't regulate sportsbooks, only casinos.

Screw overturning UIEGA and regulating, what should be done is overturning the Wire Act and UEIGA and not replacing it with anything.

Personally I think the Frank bill is DOA. There is no way Kyl and a few others let it get through the Senate. Furthermore, as noted here, it throws sports betting under the bus.

But, what's nuts about the above article about a processor group getting ready in case it passes is this:

WHO NEEDS THIRD PARTY PROCESSORS IF EVERYONE WAS AUTHORIZED TO OPERATE UNDER THE LIGHT OF DAY IN THE US?

If I had a US licensed poker site in the US, I can easily get my own merchant account and take credit cards and other forms of payment directly. All of those fraud and money laundering protection tools are readily available.

Well 1 reason i think i keep seeing these "hopes are high" articles is to try to keep the stock prices up in these euro traded gambling firms....
By my account Kyl is on his way out and has very little pull with the current leadership if any....he's having to stoop to threatning to not aprove judges in his district to even get his complaints aired...
Any hope i think of regulated sports betting still lies in a pact between casinos and states.....Combined they could get it done and once 1 state got it hopefully it would flow from there...