Others : A way out from a Debt Problem

Besides having lots of fun with online gambling, Lisa and Andrew Harding from California have also a slight problem with paying the bill. The young couple is suing the credit card companies and card issuers because they allowed them to gamble and lose more than $100,000 from online casinos in 2002 and 2003.

This lawsuit is trying to ease the couple of the huge debt. The Hardings now claim that by processing their bets, the businesses violated the California’s Unfair Business Practices Act and a state law that prohibits offering credit for gambling and also the USA Patriot Act, that bans any illegal transfers of funds. The lawsuit started by the couple is actually a countersuit to a lawsuit originally filed by Retailers National Bank.

The credit card company sued the couple with not paying the debt. And at their turn, the couple is suing credit card companies Visa International, Visa USA, MasterCard International and Discover Financial Services; several card issuers, including Retailers National Bank and Citibank; and Western Union Holdings, because they transferred the funds electronically. Due to the fact that there are dangers and addiction associated with Internet gambling, many efforts are being made to ban it in the U.S. for instance, the Senate Banking Committee approved a bill to block U.S. financial institutions from processing online gambling transactions; and the House has passed a similar bill.

There are many major credit card companies that have policies against processing Internet gambling transactions and eBay’s online payment division, PayPal, has stopped sending payments to these types of businesses. The actions of the New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer since June 2002 have resulted in many credit card issuers and banks agreeing to block these types of transactions.

But legislators and U.S. financial institutions may yet face an uphill battle. A recent report, “Wagering on the Internet” from River City Group and Christiansen Capital Advisors, LLC, says that revenues from online gambling will double to $12.6 billion in three years. Most of the revenue still comes from gamblers in the U.S. who find ways to send funds to offshore Web site operators around the world where Internet gambling is legal.