Many of Costa Rica's online sportsbooks and online casinos are saying that their business will not be affected by the new American law banning financial institutions from transferring funds to accounts known to be used for gambling purposes.
American President George W Bush Signed a bill on Friday Oct 13th called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act with the goal of eliminating online gambling by removing the methods people use to transfer and receive funds from the online casinos. Some online gaming companies released statements saying they would immediately stop all activities in the United States.
According to the Costa Rican Electronic gambling Business Association, there are over 10,000 locals employed in the 200 online gaming business based there.
One of these sportsbook companies' founders said the way he sees it they have a few months to study the situation and get a plan together that will work, but we are sure that the way we are structured we will be able to change to work within the new laws and that he sees the future for his company as a positive future.
And the owner of one of Costa Rica's online poker rooms made a statement on his site it said that it was business as usual, that they do not expect to have any problems with the new law and that all player accounts were secure and that they would do everything to ensure the continued enjoyment of all their poker playing customers.
The owner of another company said what seems to be in the minds of most people in the online gaming industry is that what the United States should do is regulate this activity and not try to ban it, and that if they successfully managed to ban gambling they would be putting thousands of poor people out of work.
