There have been geolocation, player verification and banking issues in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey concerning the new legal online gambling operations those three states are offering. Unlike legitimate offshore Atlantic City casinos, poker rooms and sportsbooks which consistently honor credit card deposits, the New Jersey online gambling picture can be somewhat different. Since many US banks and other financial institutions simply will not honor credit card transactions for funding Internet gambling, even when it is legal in a particular state, it has been frustrating for many NJ poker players to find an efficient banking suite which is quick, reliable and easy-to-use. ACH claims to have changed all that.
ACH simply means Automated Clearing House, which is a method that transfers funds directly in and out of your personal bank account. This is one option recently made available to Atlantic City gamblers online, as well as residents of the rest of New Jersey. Head over to one of the state-based, Boardwalk casino funneled Garden State virtual casinos or poker rooms, and ACH is offered as a banking option. Recently a test was performed at New Jersey online poker rooms, new poker player accounts were opened, and both withdrawals and deposits were conducted using the ACH banking option. Let us take a look at the third-party and unbiased results.
Brand-new bank accounts were opened at several financial institutions, and then used as the designated clearinghouse for online gambling activities. There are currently six New Jersey Internet poker rooms, and the ACH reviewer in Atlantic City opened and funded real money accounts at each of them. He noted that deposits were instantaneous, literally showing up in what appeared to be milliseconds. There are also no fees for this type of deposit. Of course, as Internet poker players the world over understand, getting your money out is not always as simple or timely. Three days after requesting withdrawals, the 888, WSOP and Betfair websites in New Jersey showed withdrawal transfers pending. Early on after three full days, neither Party or Borgata show proof of a pending withdrawal. (At those two websites, you must make a deposit via ACH to withdraw money with that option.)
Late on the third day, both Party and Borgata sent notifications that the withdrawals were approved. The sixth New Jersey Internet poker site, Ultimate Poker, allows you to pick up a cash withdrawal at the physical Taj Mahal Casino cashier cage in Atlantic City. Alternately, you may receive a courier check by US mail. The researcher concluded that, all in all, “ACH offers a rapid, reliable method for withdrawal at NJ sites.” With Ultimate Poker not offering ACH payouts, a withdrawal via US Postal Service was attempted at that site. While approval for the cashout took only three hours, it took a full five working days (seven days in all) to cut a check. It took an additional five days for the check to ship from Las Vegas to New Jersey, counting two weekends and eight working days, for a total of twelve days to receive the courier check by mail.
In the online gambling world, receiving a physical check in less than two weeks is more than acceptable. And with this particular clearing house method for deposits and withdrawals supported by five of the six Atlantic City based online poker sites, a speedy and reliable banking option is available. The Atlantic City online gambling industry which supports all residents and visitors located inside New Jersey state boundaries has quickly become the leader in the growing US Internet gambling picture. Fast and dependable banking options like ACH can only help the Garden State in that regard.