Poker Site Deposits By US Players Blocked By Mastercard

The US government’s constant battle to control online gambling has filtered through to credit card transactions with Mastercard now blocking any deposits made by US citizens linked to poker sites and online casinos.
The move by Mastercard is likely related to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) introduced to the States in 2006, which “prohibits the transfer of funds from a financial institution to an illegal Internet gambling site.”
In accordance with the UIGEA, Mastercard has in the past tried to block their credit card use online but were thwarted in their attempts by gaming sites who were able to ‘uncode’ transactions on their sites, which should have shown up as “gambling.” As a result, Mastercard’s last attempt to block gambling transactions lasted all of 2 months before gaming sites were able to unpick the code which then showed up as “uncoded” transactions.
From today, however, Mastercard is no longer an Deposit Option for US Players on many online gambling sites including Doylesroom, Bodog, Absolute Poker, and UltimateBet, but how long that will continue to be the case remains to be seen. Visa’s tech department have not been quite as successful in figuring out how to prevent “uncoded” transactions, though,  and continues to be widely used in the US at online poker and casino sites.
In the meantime the the usual favourite alternatives to credit card deposits are still available at most gaming sites with Echecks, Ewalletexpress and Usemywallet the most popular options.
We have also listed the best MasterCard Accepted Poker Sites as well as the top Visa Accepted Poker Sites.
Poker echecks are basically electronic cheques which are deposited directly with the online poker site. They are fast, usually carry no transaction fee and although they can also be used to withdraw money, other option like Fedex checks or bank wires are often used by the account holder. Poker echecks are accepted deposit methods on poker rooms such as PokerStars, UltimateBet, AbsoutePoker and FullTiltPoker.
Ewallets are also fast and secure deposit method and often offer a 15% bonus depending on the poker room you choose.