Two weeks since MasterCard announced that they would block American online gaming deposits, another major credit card company has decided to follow suit. Visa is also going to pull out of the online gambling market in the USA thus prohibiting American players from depositing money through their credit cards. The industry isn’t clear yet on whether this will affect Canadian players.

Despite neither credit card company stating a particular reason behind their decision, it is believed that Visa and MasterCard are preparing for the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. If the legislation is enforced, online gambling will be illegal in the US. As a result of this many international companies are preemptively departing from the US market. However if the act is overturned those companies such as Visa and MasterCard may regret their hasty decision in a market worth over $12billion.

With the two largest credit card companies no longer a depositing option thousands of players are now left without a way to fund their accounts. However alternative payment options such as e wallets will now thrive as they work on the same premise as PayPal so players can transfer money from their bank using a third party system until the UIEGA is passed.