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).
