A new credit card code that went into effect last month that identified deposits made at legal igaming sites has not fully swayed banks to accept the deposits.
The new “7801” code has been established [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/nj-hopes-new-credit-card-code-boosts-revenue/”]in both Nevada and New Jersey[/geolink], replacing the “7995” that indicates deposits at online gambling sites not located in the regulated states. The purpose of the new credit card code was to allow banks to process the transactions without worrying that doing so may violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).
However, banks are under no obligation to accept the deposits and indications are that many continue to decline. This has been one of several problems faced by online poker operators in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware since those states all legally launched igaming sites in 2013.
Representatives from casinos operating the sites have met with officials from the banking industry in an attempt to better clarify that the transactions are 100% legal. The new credit card code was the result of those meetings, but facilitating the actual deposits remains a work in progress.
One of the biggest problems is that all three states operating online gaming legally are rather small, making the attempts to deposit few and far between for the banks that handle millions of credit card transactions. There remains no incentive to accept the code or the deposits when the revenue obtained from doing so is a mere pittance.
Banks continue to see the risk being greater than the reward. That attitude was borne from enactment of the UIGEA in 2006 that made it illegal for credit card transactions for gambling sites to be processed. The banking industry embraced the parameters of the UIGEA, halting such deposits.
It might help if other larger states such as California climbed aboard the online poker and gambling regulation movement. But efforts by lawmakers in that state have been stymied by the gaming interests involved.
Implementation of the new code last month in Nevada has resulted in a greater acceptance rate, reported the Las Vegas Business Press. But several top financial institutions such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo continue to decline the deposit requests of players.
While some players who want to gamble online are being rejected at the point of deposit, different issues have kept others from doing so. Geolocation technology that identifies the location of players and makes sure that those wishing to access legal igaming sites are within the regulated states is also a work in progress.
Early on following the igaming launches in 2013, some players were wrongly identified as being outside of the acceptable region to gamble legally. That issue has improved over time. Online gaming site operators are hoping that the credit card deposit issue will also continue to improve.
