eWalletXpress was a very popular online wallet service which North American customers used to fund their use of online bingo and casino sites in the United States. The concise story of the events which led to its demise has yet to be written, but suffice it to say that the company fell foul of the tightening of the law concerning online gambling which resulted from the introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006.
Although this new legislation did not actually outlaw online gambling in the United States, it did make it illegal for banks to fund Internet gambling transactions. This brought the legality of e-wallet operations into question, and affected some similar operations too. Neteller were also affected and, like eWalletXpress, also had their customers’ accounts frozen. Neteller subsequently re-located to the Isle of Man to become a UK based operation and re-structured. They have subsequently become part of the Paysafe Group, which operates the pre-payment method Paysafecard. Unfortunately, eWalletXpress never really recovered, and has been effectively inoperative since the end of 2010.
Fortunately, this affected very few United Kingdom based players, and in any case American as well as British online bingo players have plenty of alternative e-payment methods to choose from when funding their online play. The function of an e-wallet is really to act as a store of money able to be used as a means of payment for goods or services purchased online. This could be useful for several reasons. Perhaps your preferred method of payment is not accepted by the vendor of the goods you wish to purchase. This can be the case if the seller wishes to avoid the commission fees that credit, debit and charge card companies demand for example. Or the seller may simply be too small to consider setting up the accounts necessary to accept these payments. Sometimes, it is the customer who cannot, or does not wish to use more conventional methods; or perhaps because of credit rating issues, or for reasons of confidentiality. Others prefer not to give their personal banking details to the seller because of fears over data protection or identity theft.
Whatever the reason, using an e-payment or e-wallet method of payment can be the solution. Because there are so many ways to load your e-payment account, including even pre-payment cards, you do not need a credit or bank account to set up an e-payment account. And even if you do have access to conventional banking facilities, the use of your e-payment account means that you do not have to divulge your personal banking details to the trader or online merchant you are buying from.
As far as United Kingdom based online bingo players are concerned, the loss of eWalletXpress had little effect. Today, there are several different e-payment methods that you can use to make online payments, and the advantages are the same today as they were when the American company still existed. The e-payment industry in the UK has undergone its own re-structuring and rationalisation in recent years, with Neteller, Skrill, Moneybookers and Ukash all ending up owned by the same company, Paysafe Group PLC, that runs Paysafecard. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of choice. To find out which e-payment methods each online bingo site provides, just remember to check Busy Bee’s comprehensive site reviews for further information.
