PokerStars: we don't re-code egaming payments

POKERSTARS has clarified its position regarding credit card payments from US-based customers, making clear that it does not re-code ‘7995’ online gambling transactions.

As reported on EGRmagazine.com, US credit card giants Mastercard and Visa last week began rejecting payments from US customers on a number of egaming sites including PokerStars.

However the online poker giant has distanced itself from operators that re-code ‘7995’ payments – those coded as ‘betting/casino gambling’ – as other forms of e-commerce to circumvent restrictions on them by payment companies; and stressed that other payment options are available for its US-based customers.

A company statement read: “PokerStars does not, nor ever has engaged in the practices of mis-coded credit card transactions. We have therefore been unaffected by any crackdown by Visa or MasterCard to close down such mis-coded processing accounts.

“We allow the issuing bank to decide whether the transaction should be approved or declined according to the correct coding of that transaction as 7995. The only way that PokerStars is affected by credit card declines is when issuing banks in the United States (or indeed any other country) decide that they will decline 7995 coded transactions. In such instances it is company policy to provide the player with an alternative payment method.”

eGaming Review apologises for any implication that PokerStars was among those operators that re-code transactions.

The action by Mastercard and Visa last week is a sign that banks and payment companies are preparing for implementation of America’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which bans the facilitation of online gambling by payment companies.

This was originally supposed to have been enforced from 1 December 2009, although the US treasury later approved a delay allowing companies until 1 June 2010 to comply.

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