Gambling is the “most lucrative vice online,” according to a report published by eMarketer.com. The report estimates that US consumers spent $2.9 billion on vice content in 2002. Of that, $2.5 billion went to gambling websites. Adult content spending totalled an estimated $400 million.
eMarketer estimates that online content spending for general online content targeted at consumers will total $1.2 billion for 2002.
Get Tips from Poker Expert Lee Jones
This weekend, Poker expert Lee Jones, author of the best selling book “Winning Low-Limit Hold ‘Em”, will be playing and giving expert advice to players at Golden Tiger Poker. For three days only players are invited to play and learn from one of the best Texas hold’em strategists.
Using Citadel to Fund Your Casino Account
A couple days ago a press release arrived in my Inbox mentioning yet another casino that had partnered with Citadel Commerce (www.citadelcommerce.com) to offer players yet another deposit alternative. Financing options are always a worthy topic here at WINNERonline.com so … what exactly is Citadel Commerce anyway?
Based just outside of Vancouver, Canada, Citadel Commerce Corp. offers an electronic checking system that allows players to transfer money from their bank checking account to a casino’s e-cash system by writing an e-check. “Within just 5 minutes you can open your Citadel account, deposit your funds and get into the action in the Casino,” says the press release.
Unlike wire transfers and direct deposits which can take several days –or longer– Citadel’s electronic checking system boasts a worst-case scenario of 72 hours though typical times are reported as being a few hours or less. Obviously that’s a step in the right direction.
Ok, so who can use Citadel? Citadel is currently available to US resident users with US Dollar bank accounts in the United States. It’s also available to Canadian residents with both US Dollar and Canadian Dollar bank accounts in Canada. This is exactly the audience that was hit hardest by the withdrawal of the credit card companies from the casino scene.
Of course there are a few caveats with Citadel but nothing that’s going to shock the online gambling crowd. For example the casinos are warning that the Citadel account that was used to make the first deposit must be used for all related deposits and withdrawals. Been there, done that.
Also, players must register first with Citadel and have their banking information cleared before they can proceed to deposit and withdraw. Again, this is old news.
Casinos now offering Citadel include: Intercasino, English Harbour Online Casino, River Belle Casino, Silver Dollar Online Casino, Omni Casino, Blackjack Ballroom, and many others.
While it may not be immediately obvious, one of Citadel’s main attraction appears to be that since they’re processing an e-check transaction they’re in an ideal position to offer what may well be an must-have service to the casinos: “check recovery.”
Citing stats indicating that there are over 1.1 million IDN Poker checks returned per day for non-sufficient funds (“NSF”), Citadel Commerce offers to “efficiently and discreetly handle the collection of a customer’s NSF ‘bounced’ check.” How so? By dealing directly with the banks. In brief it appears that since they’re dealing with the checking system they are authorized to attempt to recover as much of the check amount as possible from the signator’s account. The casinos are definately going to like that.
With the pullout of the credit cards and the relatively recent backing out of PayPal the online gambling community has been looking for some new friends to handle the cash flow from player to casino and back. Citadel’s arrival is good news.