If you hadn't heard
already, gaming software developer, Microgaming, has
been imposing betting restrictions on players residing
in certain U.S. States ever since the passing of the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The
only catch is that not every third-party marketer or
affiliate for Microgaming's online casino licensees has
openly shared this information with their customers. Furthermore, some
players residing in these State's have found ways to
nonetheless gamble at Microgaming casinos.
Well, that's all
going to change very soon. Likely resulting from the
recent domain name seizure in the State of Kentucky,
Microgaming has announced that it will be tightening
it's restrictive enforcement on U.S. players residing in
banned states. For a list of these States (including the
District of Columbia), please see our
U.S. Microgaming Restrictions page.
Gaming site licensees of Microgaming have already begun
to send emails to affiliates and third parties promoting
their brands. The emails advised affiliates that any
players who hitherto gambled from restricted State's
will now be blocked by Microgaming's servers. The same
goes for all future players. Those banned gamblers who have current balances with an online
casino or poker room, will be paid their balances in full.
Microgaming was
clear in their communications that this policy is not a
new one. It is simply stepping up its enforcement
regiment of the policy, which was implemented shortly
after the passing of the UIGEA.
While those people who
reside in restricted State's will still be able to
register with a Microgaming online casino and play the
"Practice" version of the software for free, they will
be blocked from making any real money deposits.
Microgaming has also advised that their IP blocking
service is using a proxy detector to find those players
who are using a proxy to hide their IP address
(something hitherto done to bypass restrictions).
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