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Dishonest punters leave casinos in legal limbo

Gamblers refuse to honour their online losses...

By Heather McLean

Published: 21 January 2002 12:42 GMT

US online casinos are finding it increasingly difficult to recover punters' gambling debts from their banks and credit card agencies as more and more gamblers fail to honour their bets.

Internet gaming firms in the US are claiming up to four out of every five debt transactions are refused by financial institutions, forcing company revenues down by 30 per cent.

Online casinos rely on users submitting their credit card or banking details to place a bet, but a rising number of customers refusing to pay their bills or querying payments, claiming someone else has fraudulently run up cost on their behalf, has seen financial institutions blocking payments to casinos.

A recent court case in California saw a woman have $100,000 of gambling debts cleared as payment is not legally enforceable.

Of every 10 online bets worldwide, eight are placed within the US.

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