There’s no use trying to sugar-coat it—it’s a crappy time for anything relating to online gambling in the United States.  With the arrests of former Neteller chief’s John LeFevre and Steve Lawrence, the i-gaming industry suffered its very own version of Hurricane Katrina.  The hurricane was bad enough, but the flood is what’s done the real damage…the flood of panic causing most of the major cash processors to abandon the industry.  For US players, no more Neteller, no more Citadel, no more PaySpark, no more ACH.    

Continuing the Katrina analogy, US players are now left clinging to whatever possible to keep them afloat.  We’re looking for whatever hope we can glean that things will be o.k.  Unfortunately, just like the victims of the real Hurricane Katrina, hope, information and aid is disappointingly slow and insufficient to sustain the players. 

Sadly, the casualties of online gaming, be they players or those working within the industry seem to be growing in numbers.  So what do we do?  Can we survive this man-made disaster?

The first thing we all need to realize is that this situation has rattled everyone.  Patience is what is most needed, as clearly, the industry has to go to ‘Plan B.’  The trouble is, ‘Plan B’ was never developed, so the industry is scrambling to create it.  Once created, ‘Plan B’ will still need to be implemented.  This is gonna take time.

In the meantime, the best thing Americans can do is contact their local and State officials and make their voices heard.  Get involved!  Check out our Legal Bits section—there are organizations like the online Poker Players Alliance and the Association of Players, Casinos and Webmasters who are doing some great work.  Contact the media (you’ll find dozens of resource outlets in our Legal Bits section).  Just do SOMETHING.

Just as we saw with the real Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and other affected cities are slowly but surely coming back to life.  Things aren’t perfect yet, but those who’ve survived are getting back on their feet.  The same will eventually happen for the victims of the online gambling version of Katrina…it’ll take time, but we’ll all survive and the industry will somehow get back on its feet.