Deposit methods and banking options for US players in regards to online gambling are not as varied as in other countries. And honestly, that is for a very good reason. The United States Department of Justice has sought to protect its citizens by making account funding for shady online operators difficult for those companies. The downside is, legitimate online casinos and other online gambling portals are caught in the crossfire. The legal hurdles and banking regulations are difficult to navigate, so most online casinos either do not offer access to American players, or drastically limit the available deposit methods.
But an early holiday present was delivered to US online gamblers in December of 2011. That is when the DOJ flip-flopped their opinion on the UIGEA of 2006. They decided that playing the lottery online and some forms of online gambling were allowable in the US, and that each individual state should decide their own online destiny. Almost immediately, Nevada legalized online poker, and just last year Delaware and New Jersey each adopted legislation allowing online gambling in their own unique versions. California, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Texas and other states are also actively pursuing legalized online gambling legislation.
And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has reintroduced as a federal proposition a piece of blanket legislation which would legalize online gambling across the United States. Since it is obvious that US online gambling is a multibillion industry whose time has come, that begs a question. Will online gambling deposit methods and funding options for US players become more favorable, and what form will they take? Just this past year at least one virtual currency has arisen which may make the decision easy for US regulators, and social gaming giants like Facebook and Zynga have joined the pay for play online gaming community.
BitCoin “is a decentralized digital currency based on an open-source, peer-to-peer internet protocol.” That is the definition you find on Wikipedia for one new virtual currency, and since this creation for payment processing and person-to-person financial transfers is not based on any traditional money or currency, it does not fall within the scope of US banking regulations. This could be the wave of the future as a deposit method in the United States and other countries for funding an online gambling account. And in recent years, prepaid banking options have been met with more favor than in the past.
That is because they provide a layer of insulation and anonymity between a clients traditional banking activities and the online casino, poker room or sportsbook where they make a deposit. And since it is not illegal for companies based outside of the United States to offer online gambling options to US players, there are still those smart online gambling operators which honor the most favored of all deposit methods, credit cards. Right now the deposit method and account funding picture for US citizens who want to enjoy some responsible, adult online gambling is foggy. But as more individual states legalize online gambling, and as the Feds move closer to a solitary piece of legislation which would blanket the entire country, the online casino deposit methods picture will become clearer and friendlier to the US citizen.
