Online Casinos Still Unsupported by American Express

Despite recent rumors to the contrary, American Express still will not make payments to online casinos or gambling of any kind.

An errant report this week that some online casinos would accept payment via American Express was denied by the credit card company. American Express officials say they will not honor payments to any site involving gambling, and will drop any vendor who attempts to skirt the rule.

Gambling Online had reported that Rome Casino was accepting deposits made using American Express cards, which would have been a noted break in policy for American Express and open up potential new avenues of deposit for millions of players.

But the information leaked out of Rome Casino turned out to be false, and American Express is taking pains to make sure the public understands its stance against gaming payments in no uncertain terms.

“It is a long-standing policy that American Express cards cannot be accepted for gambling – either online or offline and the Rome Casino is no exception,"  American Express Vice-President Christine Elliot told both the Internet news site and the online casino.

"Any merchant found to be in violation of this policy is terminated immediately from card acceptance.," she added.

While companies such as PayPal are positioning themselves to jump at the instant online gambling is legalized, US residents shouldn't expect credit card companies to adjust their policies until the specter of the UIGEA is removed.