There are few problems more threatening to the expansion of online gambling in the US than what Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada are experiencing at the moment. Several banks and financial institutions are refusing to process payments made via credit and debit cards. These include J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and American Express which won’t accept payments made to online gambling sites.

Steve O’Halloran, director of PR for Chase Card and Merchant Services simply said, “We don’t allow credit card transactions for this activity”. A similar response was given by Sanette Chao, a spokeswoman for American Express, “American Express prohibits the use of the card for gambling services. Gambling services, historically, account for a high number of card member credit losses and customer service disputes”.

And Wells Fargo’s representative, Natalie Brown, agreed saying “In compliance with regulation GG (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006), we prohibit the use of consumer credit cards for Internet gambling. The networks (Visa, MasterCard and American Express) monitor the merchant category codes and block charges that don’t comply with federal regulations”.