ePassporte No Longer Supports Online Poker Market in USA

ePassporte, one of the few e-wallets that still served US residents, has withdrawn from serving online poker players in the USA, according to emails client sites such as Full Tilt Poker and Cake Poker received and shared publicly, though the firm has published no public statement.

In their letter to the sites, ePassporte management said that "...a widespread investigation of Internet gambling, including poker by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Southern New York" is responsible for their decision, reported Poker News.com. "Although we do not believe we have done anything illegal, we do not wish to be associated with anything that might be considered illegal by the United States Government," their letter continued.

Notably, this is the same jurisdiction that prosecuted Neteller's co-founders.

Cake Poker emailed players, saying, "We have received notice from ePassporte today that they are unable to continue to provide CakePoker with merchant e-wallet services. We have since confirmed that this situation is not unique to CakePoker and is, in fact, industry wide."

Likewise, Full Tilt Poker told players, "We have recently been notified by ePassporte that they are no longer able to facilitate deposits or withdrawals between ePassporte and Full Tilt Poker player accounts."

Unofficial reports suggest that customers are still able to withdraw ePassporte funds from their online accounts via electronic file transfer and ATM card methods.

Industry observers felt that ePassporte's decision to support only online poker, and not other forms of online gambling the way Neteller did, would protect them from U.S prosecution.

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