It wasn't long ago since MasterCard announced that they are going to block Americans from making transactions to online casino sites (See MasterCard Cuts Off Online Casino Payments In US). Now, MasterCards biggest opponent VISA follows and block their Canadian customers as well. That both the credit card giants VISA and MasterCard have decided to block Canadians from making transactions to online casino is a clear sign that UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) will soon come into effect in June 1, 2010.

Canada seemed to be untouched by the block, but it has recently come to our attention that similar hindrances are taking place here. When you are going to enter your VISA account number into online casino, the error message indicated that the financial institution by which the card was issued would not allow the transaction to take place. We are uncertain whether the block was caused by VISA or the bank, but one thing was clear: we were unable to fund our online casino account. Considering the fact that Canadian Visa is usually governed by US regulations so it is very probable that most of us are blocked with that payment option as well.

Most people have pointed to the fact that both companies are probably getting prepared for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) to come into effect. If this legislation and that getting fully enforced, activity at online casino will be considered illegal within the United States and Canada and these credit card companies want to distance themselves from any illegal activity.

If you encounter this situation, it may be frustrating but there are very simple solutions to this problem. It may seems as though the next available option would be an e-wallet, however these systems take quite some time to authenticate. So, the quickest option is to register for an online credit/debit card.

Companies like VISA Electron allow players to make payments online through a web-based card. Because the card has no attachment to a financial institution, banks are not able to intercept payments to online casino. Transfers are instant and secure, as players are never required to give out their own personal bank account or credit card information.

The registration process is quick and easy. The VISA Electron took less than 10 minutes. Within 15 minutes, your online casino account was funded and we were ready to play!

The online gambling world has been waiting for Barney Frank’s online casino bill to take the next step forward in the legal process. Although many had expected that the House Financial Services Committee would have already heard the bill, there have been long delays due to other pressing legal issues, such as the health bill. It seems, however, that Congress is finally ready to move forward with the Barney Frank online casino bill.

Finally, after about a year of delays, the House Financial Services Committee will hear Barney Frank’s online caisno bill, which proposes to legalize and regulate online casino in the United States. The date set for the hearing is for the end of this week, on Friday, April 16th 2010. however, it was postponed and according to a press release by the committee, Barney Frank, committee chairman, has a conflict forcing an adjustment of the hearing time. No announcement has been made as to when the hearing will be rescheduled.

Along with the main online casino bill, Barney Frank has a side bill, which proposes to delay the implementation of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) by one more year. This one year delay would be so that there is time for the Frank online gambling bill to work its way through official channels without the implementation of the UIGEA occurring simultaneously, since this could cause confusion should the online casino bill become law. Should Barney Frank’s main online casino bill be adopted as a new law, the UIGEA would be virtually moot.

At this time, the UIGEA is currently suspended. In response to various requests in November, the Treasury chose to suspend the starting date for the implementation of the UIGEA. Although the request had been for one year, the Treasury suspended the UIGEA implementation by six months. The suspended starting date is nearly here, which makes it that much more important that Barney Frank’s companion bill be passed, in order to give his main bill the time it needs to be considered, and move through the legal channels.

At this time, there is no indication of when markup of the bills can be expected. It does not seem to be that markup will take place at the hearing scheduled for later this week.

Michael Waxman, from the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, noted: "This hearing will provide further evidence that the UIGEA is a poorly crafted law that simply does not work.We expect this hearing to provide further impetus for the House Financial Services Committee and Congress to address this issue and move forward Chairman Frank’s regulatory bill."

There are also other online casino bills that will need to be considered, such as the Jim McDermott bill which suggests that a large part of the income raised from online casino taxes should go toward various forms of funding for those children that are currently in foster care, as well as those that were in foster care.