Bill Mummery, Head of E-Gaming Development with the Manx Government, said the passage of the bill seeking to ban American citizens from gambling online could be beneficial for the industry, forcing it to develop other markets outside the US.
“The US market is not the global market and if we reduce dependency by concentrating on other markets, it accelerates that process. 888.com\’s reliance on the US is already down to around 60 per cent, although PartyGaming\’s is around 90 per cent. There are still so many untapped geographical markets, that people should be turning their attention to and developing,” said Mummery.
As the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006 aims at preventing credit cards and wire transfers from being used as payment methods for online gambling sites, alternative payment providers are monitoring the situation closely.
Andrew Gilchrist, Vice President of Neteller, said: “We have an interest in the bill because of the nature of the funds that generally come from US citizens through us and onto gaming sites. The issue we have at the moment is that it\’s difficult to see how it would impact our business. It\’s not clear if it is directly targeting our business.”
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