If our banks allow us to fund our neteller accounts for gambling transactions...Are not they just as much guilty as we are? Wouldn't all the pressure if the bill is completely done be put upon the banks who let us transfer the money into these accounts? Or maybe all the pressure is on companies like Neteller who deal directly with the offshore industry? Maybe Neteller will have to make their business somehow a non US entity?
All the people who think this bill will be a non-issue, and that Neteller will still be freely available since it is a 3rd-party processor, should think again.
I am already reading some stories about bettors trying to deposit money to Neteller (by bank wire and by credit card) being refused, with their bank citing Neteller as being a "gaming transaction".
I think the problem with Neteller is that they have only a very small percentage of their merchants that are NOT gaming related. This makes them extremely vulnerable to being "blackballed", if the US government so chooses.
At least in the PayPal days, PayPal could justify their existence because PayPal's gaming-related merchants were a minority of their overall merchant base.
It all depends on how diligent the government wants to be, but if they really want to "stick it to the industry", Neteller could be one of the first to go.
I am already reading some stories about bettors trying to deposit money to Neteller (by bank wire and by credit card) being refused, with their bank citing Neteller as being a "gaming transaction".
I think the problem with Neteller is that they have only a very small percentage of their merchants that are NOT gaming related. This makes them extremely vulnerable to being "blackballed", if the US government so chooses.
At least in the PayPal days, PayPal could justify their existence because PayPal's gaming-related merchants were a minority of their overall merchant base.
It all depends on how diligent the government wants to be, but if they really want to "stick it to the industry", Neteller could be one of the first to go.
Well the banks are just taking precautions that they are allowed to do with Neteller. Fact that they don't allow it doesn't mean its illegal. Banks make their own decisions on what to process. Think of it this way, say I got 50 big ones in my account and I want to wire the money to someone in Colombia. The bank could allow it or not, its up to them and some very vague regulations that the banks are supposed to take care to avoid abetting a crime. Fact is the bank has to either say its too risky or just pass it though after I give them a made up explanation of what I am doing. If it turns out I am buying coke from a big dealer in Colombia, but I told the bank I am paying to build a vacation home, well the bank can say hey he gave us assurances and it would be hard to prove in court that the bank didn't fill their fiduciary duties. Now say I sent that money to Switzerland and put it into their agent's account to be transferred to their account, because the Swiss won't ask you why you are sending money by wire to Colombia, and then get on a plane and get the coke in Colombia and sell it in another country than the US. Bottom line is that the US can't claim jurisdiction until I or someone working for me comes to the US and sells the coke there. Until then its a foreign transaction even if it started out in my US account. The US has tried to argue they should still have jurisdiction in cases like this, but almost every foreign country has told them to shove it if they can't show how the activity took place in the US. The difficulties of this argument are part of the motive of the Patriot Act, the US can't claim legal jurisdiction so they are just going to take the money from the bank and tell them if they want their bucks, go take it from a guy who has never set foot in the US. I don't think most Americans realize how much the US is showing no regard for the law these days. The invasion of Iraq had a good deal of legal justifications, just not the one the UN gives out. These types of money acts the US tries to get over with violate just about EVERY world standard and local standard banking acts. If the US wasn't as big an economy a lot of countries would have pushed to get our banks shut off until the violations are stopped and corrected, but shutting out US banks from the global finance system would quite obviously destroy everyone.
