Giftcards.com closes doors to online gamblers

22 March 2007

By Ryan McLane

The Virtual Visa Gift Card option at www.giftcards.com
has shut its doors to online gamblers.

Just a couple of days after it reappeared as a purchasing option, an addition to the www.giftcards.com
FAQ stated that the card could not be used for online gambling.

Byran Micon, a spokesperson for www.pokerdeposits.com
and
www.neverwinpoker.com , said he was told this morning that www.giftcards.com was ordered to shut down their business to all online gambling casinos.
Micon was promoting the Virtual Visa option at www.pokerdeposits.com as the best depositing method on the Internet. Unlike e-wallets like www.epassporte.com , the Virtual Visa option allowed gamblers to deposits funds in a matter of hours, not days.

And most importantly, it worked.

"They very abruptly shut it down," Micon said. "I know they wanted to get into this market, it had a very large potential. But it's done now. It's all done."

Micon said he did not know who told www.giftcards.com
to stop these transactions.

Casino City first reported in February that the Virtual Visa Gift Card was a viable option for online gamblers, only to see the Virtual option disappear days later for more than a month. At the time, a spokesperson at www.giftcards.com
told Casino City that the company was "revamping their fraud system."

After spending a month in limbo, the Virtual Visa became available again this week, but has since stopped working.

Attempts to contact www.giftcards.com
today went unanswered.

Micon recommends using www.epassporte.com
,
www.Netspend.com
, or
www.paytrue.com for online gambling transactions.

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Ryan McLane

Ryan McLane was a poker reporter for Casino City. Although he has a strong background in reporting, the same can't be said for his poker skills. He has never won a major tournament nor is he a professional player. He applied for this job thinking it was a joke, only to find it out that it's true, people will pay you to write about poker. His favorite word is ridiculous.

After receiving his BA in History from Stonehill College in Easton, MA, he somehow ended up freelance reporting for a couple years before being deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom III with the Massachusetts National Guard. He's back now and is a strong advocate of the phrase "God Bless America."

Currently, Ryan lives in Boston and occasionally makes international treks to cover tournament poker and news. Feature writing is his passion and there is no need to ask for his opinion, he'll probably offer it first - free of charge.