How to Fund Your Favorite Online Gaming Site

Yesterday, CardPlayer.com reported that NETELLER put out a press release basically saying that they will follow any US rules and regulations relating to gaming as if they were a US company. Click here to read that article.

The NETELLER press release stated: "NETELLER, a company registered outside the US, will comply with the Act and its related regulations as if it were subject to the Act's jurisdiction. This action is intended to ensure that the Company is able to continue to operate with the support of its principal commercial partners and to protect its shareholders, business partners, employees and reputation.

"Various provisions of the Act, including the obligations of financial transaction providers such as NETELLER, remain unclear. The uncertainty should be largely resolved when the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System issue the regulations they are required to prescribe within 270 days."

I have received numerous e-mails from worried poker players asking what to do about the impending threat. Patrick writes to say that he just wants his poker, but it's getting more and more difficult to fund a site. JP wants to know if players should just load up their accounts in order to have a decent bankroll.

In order to address those issues, I must reiterate what I have been saying for about 10 years. Online poker is here to stay and the federal government simply cannot ban it. When you take an industry making billions a year, that industry is simply not going to take its toys and go home.

Years ago, when legislators came up with the idea of legislation that would prohibit the use of credit cards to fund online poker accounts, alternative methods to fund those accounts immediately became available. Party Poker used IGMPay, while other sites used FirePay, NETELLER, myCitidel, and others.

Some of those companies are thriving and others pulled out. But the bottom line is that in the last 10 years of attempting to slow the growth of online gaming, nothing has worked. Our legislators are painfully aware that they cannot regulate offshore companies, so they keep attempting other methods. Before those methods go into effect, brilliant minds come up with alternatives. So now, to answer the question regarding what the poker player should do.

Nothing. The online poker player should just keep playing poker. Right now, NETELLER is incredibly easy to use. There is no need to over-fund your accounts. In the next 270 days, even if NETELLER pulls out, there will be alternative methods available to fund online accounts, which will be equally effortless.

The rules and regulations given to financial institutions will probably not include regulating checks. There is also the issue of e-checks, money orders, and other trustworthy alternatives. Believe me, this issue is being worked on night and day.

Let's take one day at a time and see what happens. In a few months, we can revisit the issue of how to fund online accounts. If any of you are using other methofs I have not mentioned, please drop me a line and tell me about the company you use. E-mail me at allyn@cardplayer.com.

Click here to visit CardPlayer.com's page dedicated to coverage of the UIGE Act.