BREAKING NEWS ABOUT ePASSPORTE

REC'D FROM SUITED POCKETS ADMIN @ 23:04

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My friends at Cake Poker called me early this evening to inform us all in Pocketeer Land that ePassporte has stopped doing business with poker sites. I'm going to stay up all night and see what I can find out.

I CAN TELL YOU THAT EPASSPORTE DID NOT CLOSE DOWN. YOUR MONEY IS STILL THERE AND CAN BE USED FOR OTHER PURCHASES YOUR YOU CAN SEND YOUR BALANCE TO YOUR CHECKING ACCT OUR USE YOUR EPASSCARD IF YOU HAVE ONE.

Here you go - I had Cake send me their response to this issue:

To all Cake Poker Customers:

We have received notice from ePassporte today that they are unable to continue to provide CakePoker with merchant e-wallet services. We have since confirmed that this situation is not unique to CakePoker and is, in fact, industry wide.

While we are disappointed with this decision, we want to reassure all players that there will be no impact to either your account balances or your account status at Cake. We are pleased to have launched earlier this week with a new payment processor and have already secured alternative processors/eWallets that we will be launching in the weeks to come.

We are also in discussions with other providers that will be making their services available in the CakePoker cashier soon. Players are welcome to inquire with Customer Support for more details.

As always, we value your business and will continue to make every effort possible to make your poker experience a great one.

Regards,

The Cake Poker Team

Click to expand...

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It is my opinion if you have an account with this company it is time to close it in protest to this unwarranted move. Enough of us do and they will get the big picture in a hurry!!

im glad i never made an Account with them,,,No neteller in the USA and now this,, makes you wonder whats happening,,, buck

I could never figure out epassporte - countless times (well about 4 or 5) ive tried to open an account and its just never happened, no deposit from them and no response on emails.

Most American credit card companies blocked their charges anyway - but now I guess nobody can use them.

I used these clowns to shift my money around. Damn them. I used their virtual visa to pay my internet/cable bill every month too (with poker money)

ark, thats the same letter I got in my e-mail, not accusing sp of inflating their importance but its really not another source I guess.....

Currently trying to get info from epassporte themselves

I just got a similar letter from FTP.

Is there something wrong with people using the AllAccess cards? I mean you cant put large amounts back onto it, but I wonder why people would use EPassporte and that "virtual Visa" anyways? I bought the AllAccess card for 10 bucks from a gas station. The 10 bucks is because they send you a card with your name on it (this is the reloadable one). I can withdrawl back to it (granted only up to like 500 bucks I think, but I will just spread out the withdrawls if I ever end up making tooooo much money lol). I really feel like I am missing something with EPassporte and NetTeller.

Because I don't want another card, certainly not one I have to pay extra for. I want to be able to put the money I have now on pokerstars. That's it. I've heard of problems depositing and I'm damn sure not paying a fee for this and then ending up not being able to deposit with it. epassporte was the best way to transfer money with a credit card quickly to pokerstars. Now there is no way to do this. The best method by far with a checking account is echecks. Quick, easy, and free deposit (well you still have to spend the money you spend, but no extra fees).

I see. Well the AllAccess has worked fine for me and it was only 10 bucks. I can deal with that. (as long as I dont end up reloading and reloading lol - though you only pay the 10 bucks once).

And there is a way to transfer with a credit card like you said, you buy an AllAccess, transfer from your credit card onto the debit card, then use the debit card to put the money on stars. That is easy enough, though I do understand you dont want to give them 10 bucks for the card. But I looked at it like this - I paid 10 bucks for the card. I can add to PS, withdrawl to it, use it for other purposes as well since it is a Visa. It is like a bank debit card to me. A debit card that I can use to load poker sites with... It is no different than any debit card that I would get from the bank down the street. The only difference is that I can use it for what I want. I can still pay my phone bill, use it to go to the movies, etc. I mean I really look at it like a debit card from my bank. It is an account in my name, the card has my name on it, a regular Visa with debit card written on it... (this is all about the reloadable one by the way).

Edit: Also if someone didnt want the account in his name, I can understand not wanting one, because the *** (people that want to know how much I make so they can take a third of it) surely will know about this money.

I got a similar message today from Cake. My main question is, what is the best withdrawal method from sites? Check? Don't some sites charge $35 to send you a check?

odinscott said:

Is there something wrong with people using the AllAccess cards? I mean you cant put large amounts back onto it, but I wonder why people would use EPassporte and that "virtual Visa" anyways? I bought the AllAccess card for 10 bucks from a gas station. The 10 bucks is because they send you a card with your name on it (this is the reloadable one). I can withdrawl back to it (granted only up to like 500 bucks I think, but I will just spread out the withdrawls if I ever end up making tooooo much money lol). I really feel like I am missing something with EPassporte and NetTeller.

Click to expand...

OdinScott, can you please tell me where you get these AllAccess cards?

Thank you, Becky

Nitrilocide said:

OdinScott, can you please tell me where you get these AllAccess cards?

Thank you, Becky

Click to expand...

If you want to get it online the link is here.

Here you can enter your zipcode and it will tell you where the closest stores that sell them are.

You can get them in either Visa or mastercard.

Edit: I should mention that if you order it online, they will print a card with your name on it and send it to you for free. The first time you load money onto it, they charge 10 dollars, but after that it is like a regular Visa debit card (from a bank). Also if you wanted you could direct deposit your paycheck onto it. These are for the reloadable one, which is what I have. They also have a gift card, that you use once and throw away. I wanted the debit card type, but if someone only wanted to deposit once, that would work too (and only costs 5 dollars).

ANOTHER SOURCE

Epassporte leaves US market
Posted on April 12th, 2008
by Jim in poker news



At this time it is unclear if Epassporte has left the American market permanently but we do know that at least for the time being Americans are in fact locked out from depositing to all gambling websites using their Epassporte accounts.

It was a 2+2 member with the handle MiltonFriedman who first broke this news four hours ago in this 2+2 ePassporte reportedly pulls plug on US players - Two Plus Two Forums thread. While Milton has declined to reveal his sources he is a respected member of the poker community and has went as far to say: “If I am wrong in the substance of my OP (short for: original post), I will NEVER post here again.”

In our own investigation into this matter we spoke to an Epassporte customer service represenative named Marcus who claimed he was aware of rumors posted on various message boards, but stated “at this time” that these were nothing more than rumors and that no policy change has been made. When questioning him on his wording of “at this time” he responded, “it is what it is, no changes have been made at this time”.

Several online poker rooms have removed Epassporte from their list of banking options, including Absolute Poker and Cake Poker, while others such as PokerStars and full tilt poker have them listed as temporarily blocked.

The most interesting news thus far has come from online poker room Cake Poker who has included this statement on their cashier:

“To all Cake Poker Customers:
We have received notice from ePassporte today that they are unable to continue to provide CakePoker with merchant e-wallet services. We have since confirmed that this situation is not unique to CakePoker and is, in fact, industry wide.

While we are disappointed with this decision, we want to reassure all players that there will be no impact to either your account balances or your account status at Cake. We are pleased to have launched earlier this week with a new payment processor and have already secured alternative processors/eWallets that we will be launching in the weeks to come. We are also in discussions with other providers that will be making their services available in the CakePoker cashier soon. Players are welcome to inquire with Customer Support for more details.

As always, we value your business and will continue to make every effort possible to make your poker experience a great one.

Regards,
The CakePoker Team ”

pokerstars.com tells us that they’ve received no message from Epassporte similar to the one Cake Poker has posted and they’ve only been told this is a 24 hour technical/maintenance issue.

Full Tilt Poker has not yet responded to our inquiry. Their cashier does show the following message, also mentioning 24 hours.



We will continue to monitor this situation and report back soon.

AND ANOTHER

More Epassporte News Surfaces
Posted on April 12th, 2008
by Jim in Poker News



We reported last night that Epassporte has, at least temporarily, blocked all transactions from US players to online poker rooms. At the time of our initial report Cake Poker was the only poker room to report that this situation was much more than just technical/maintenance downtime.

Here is the information that has surfaced today:

Full Tilt Poker has begun issuing emails similar to the one Cake Poker began issuing last night.

“We have recently been notified by ePassporte that they are no longer able to facilitate deposits or withdrawals between ePassporte and Full Tilt Poker player accounts. We apologize for this inconvenience which is unfortunately outside of our control.”

Also Gambling 911 is reporting that Pitbull Poker has also been told they can no longer use Epassporte.

It certainly appears at this time that Epassporte is leaving the American poker market but some uncertainly still remains. For example, Epassporte has not yet issued any type of statement on the matter and PokerStars.com continues to state they’ve only been told this is a technical /maintenance issue and their Epassporte processing will be back online soon.

When trying to deposit at PokerStars using Epassporte the following pop up error message is displayed:



The positive news is that it appears all players’ funds are safe. Many players have reported hassle free use of Epassporte at non gambling related merchants and that their Epassporte debit cards are working just fine.

While this is an unfortunate event for American poker players there are many online poker rooms such as bodog and Poker Host which have been surviving fine since UIGEA without ever having accepted Epassporte as a banking method.

More on this story to follow as updates become available. In the meantime stay tuned to this 2+2 ePassporte reportedly pulls plug on US players - Two Plus Two Forumsthread for updates.

Email from PoKerari

Just in from Pokerari

Dear Players,

Pokerari is sorry to inform you that as of yesterday, 12th April, we are unable to provide you with ePassporte as a deposit/withdrawal option. We have received a notice from ePassporte that they have suspended offering e-wallet services to the online gaming industry.

We want to assure you, however, that we are actively working on adding alternative banking options for our U.S.-based players, and that we expect to have at least one such option implemented already by Thursday, 17th April.

Please accept our sincere apologises and don't hesitate to contact our 24/7 Support Desk should you have any questions regarding this matter.

Kind Regards,
Pokerari Management

service@pokerari.com
www.pokerari.com - Home

*sigh* here we go again. This sucks for me because I was one of the apparently few people who used epassporte with no problems whatsoever. I can only hope that this doesn't turn into another Neteller fiasco where our money is held for months. I'm going to start withdrawing all the money today, just in case.

Genso Hikki said:

*sigh* here we go again. This sucks for me because I was one of the apparently few people who used epassporte with no problems whatsoever. I can only hope that this doesn't turn into another Neteller fiasco where our money is held for months. I'm going to start withdrawing all the money today, just in case.

Click to expand...

It doesn't look like our money will be held. It looks like that ePASS is just turning off tranfers to gambling sites. Must have gotten a nasty letter from the US Feds. My ePASS account is still available and I was able to use it to pay a non-gambling site today.

Dear Account Holder,

We have disabled EpPurchase capabilities for certain merchants that use
ePassporte as a payment option. This may affect some transactions you
normally make with your ePassporte Account. You may still use your Visa
Virtual Card to make purchases online with internet retailers that accept
Visa. ePassporte Account Holders can also use their ePassporte Visa
Electron Card to make purchases at Visa merchants with electronic
terminals and ATMs. If you do not yet have an ePassporte Visa Electron
Card, you can purchase one by logging into your Account and clicking the
?Get A Visa Card? button located on the welcome page.

If you have any further questions regarding your Account functionality,
please do not hesitate to contact us via the options listed below.

Account Holder Services Email: cs@epassporte.com
International and US: 1-954-426-3566

Best Regards,
Sara M

ePassporte Account Holder Services
cs@epassporte.com
FAX: 1-310-564-1751
PHONE: 954-426-3566
International: +01-954-426-3566

I had wondered what happened to epassporte. I've been trying to deposit so I could play in the youth vs experience game the past two times, but both times I thought epassporte being down was temporarily.

So if I get an all access visa, I can withdraw funds right back to the card?

yowtfbuck said:

I had wondered what happened to epassporte. I've been trying to deposit so I could play in the youth vs experience game the past two times, but both times I thought epassporte being down was temporarily.

So if I get an all access visa, I can withdraw funds right back to the card?

Click to expand...

I have not done it yet, because I haven't needed the money, but yes they said you can.

odinscott said:

If you want to get it online the link is here.

Here you can enter your zipcode and it will tell you where the closest stores that sell them are.

You can get them in either Visa or MasterCard.

Edit: I should mention that if you order it online, they will print a card with your name on it and send it to you for free. The first time you load money onto it, they charge 10 dollars, but after that it is like a regular Visa debit card (from a bank). Also if you wanted you could direct deposit your paycheck onto it. These are for the reloadable one, which is what I have. They also have a gift card, that you use once and throw away. I wanted the debit card type, but if someone only wanted to deposit once, that would work too (and only costs 5 dollars).

Click to expand...

Hey Scott, just reading through their fees. So, $1 charged for every purchase (poker deposit), I didn't see any fees listed for reloading (poker withdrawals). Is this right? Free? In a later post, I think you said you made no withdrawals or maybe no reloads. Any experience here yet?

Nitrilocide said:

Hey Scott, just reading through their fees. So, $1 charged for every purchase (poker deposit), I didn't see any fees listed for reloading (poker withdrawals). Is this right? Free? In a later post, I think you said you made no withdrawals or maybe no reloads. Any experience here yet?

Click to expand...

$1 everytime you use it to deposit on a poker site and $1 to use it at an ATM - free to use it in the store like a debit card. So if you have $50 on the card, you can deposit $49. No fee to reload, unless the place you do it at charges (I loaded at a gas station that charged 4 bucks). That means that Stars would have to eat the fee, so free for you. I have reloaded it (I use it sometimes in town to buy a drink or something when I am out running because it is easier to carry than cash in sweat pants). I have yet to take any money out of Stars. I have enough money to live on without it and want to build my BR.

Thos is most unfortunate! I've used ePassporte for site to site transfers for the past year or so and was very happy with the service. Looks like back to the drawing board.

Leaves alot of people in difficult positions, do you leave your money in poker accounts, preferably the safe ones ie stars, tilt etc and wait for another suitable option. then just use player transfers to move money around.

At the moment as I am in UK I can still use neteller, but if they stopped sometimes difficult to get money out.

If it came to a point where players were unable to withdraw they might as well play for play chips.