Barclays Bank Declining NETeller Wires According to Online Poker Room  

Online poker rooms and sports betting operations in Costa Rica are now discovering that third party payment processor, NETeller, is having serious problems with its primary UK bank, Barclays.  All the more reason for customers outside the US to stop doing business with NETeller before they start dealing with the same headaches as their US counterparts.

PitBullPoker.com, the first online flash poker room which just debuted its FlashPokerNetwork "skins" to a handful of casino and sports betting operators this week and continues to accept US customers, warned Gambling911.com of the dilemma they had encountered.

"We have been sending NETeller wires for the past year because we pay out more in NETeller than we take in," a representative from PitbullPoker.com told Gambling911.com Thursday afternoon.  "We sent out a wire again on Monday and I was just notified by our Costa Rican bank that there bank 'Barclays Bank in London' has denied our wire and returned it to us.  See attached pdf.  Seems like they are having banking problems in the UK too?  Barclays getting heat from the US?"

(see letter here)

NETeller is now instructing that wires be sent to another bank in the United Kingdom.

PitbullPoker.com warns of more trouble ahead on the international front for NETeller (see site here)

Earlier today, Reuters released news confirming Gambling911.com's reports that NETeller funds have been seized by US Federal law enforcement.

"The amount of funds seized by the USAO or otherwise restricted by third parties does not exceed $55 million (28 million pounds)," said NETeller, which abandoned 65 percent of its business by quitting the United States.

It is not known how this money was obtained by the FBI since NETeller operates legally from the Isle of Man.

Concerned customers are urged to contact authorities from the Isle of Man.

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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com

Originally published February 8, 2007 5:38 pm ET