MasterCard has taken measures to block deposits from US residents to online wagering sites, www.onlinecasino.org reports.
As a result, players at online gambling establishments, such as online poker and sportbetting websites, will no longer be able to fund their accounts using their Mastercard-branded cards. However, US online gamblers are still able to get money into their online poker accounts via echecks, bankwires and some Visa credit cards.
Such measures may be related to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that was signed into law in 2006 by President George W. Bush. The bill forced many third party payment processors (Neteller included) to leave the US market. UIGEA policy enforcement was not to become effective until July 2010, and even then there could be further delays. The UIGEA of 2006 does not prohibit online gambling; it only bans the transfer of funds from a US financial institution to an online gambling location.
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