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Visa began denying casino charges. What to do now? |
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Visa Denying Casino Charges
Citing proposed United States legislation as a contributing factor, Visa has announced that it will begin auditing transactions from merchants that offer "gambling services" on 11-15-01. Gambling transactions are supposed to be tagged using a special tracking code, but many merchants have avoided using the tracking code in order not to make waves and risk a credit denial by the issuing bank.
So far, Visa claims it only wants to make sure these transactions are identified properly, so issuing banks can make informed decisions. Visa has said it will fine issuing banks $25,000 for every casino transaction that is not properly identified.
While it is not clear that banks will begin denying these transactions immediately, there seems to be a good chance we will see this in the near future. U.S. legislation specifically seeking a ban on internet gambling gains more Congressional support each time it is introduced. A passable bill would likely not include a penalty for the gamblers themselves, but would include penalties for American businesses that facilitate online gambling.
What can gamblers do? As usual, the free market is far ahead of government. Many casinos offer alternative payment mechanisms such as PayPal, FirePay, and NetTeller. These services process transactions for you, then allow you to spend your money where you wish without government snooping (or bank snooping mandated by government). If you don't have an alternative payment system already, it's probably time you thought about it.
As a side note, our favorite is FirePay.
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