Funding Your Full Tilt Poker Account – Learning from the MyWebATM Debacle?

MyWebATM
MyWebATM

Americans who play poker online know that they can expect a lot of challenges when it comes to finding a poker site.  Many don’t even accept American players, but those that do are can’t receive money directly from American banks and financial institutions, thanks to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which was passed in law as a rider on a larger piece of legislation back in 2006.  Full Tilt Poker, for instance, is one of the easiest sites for US players to play poker online.  All you need is a Full Tilt referral code (such as GH600, so that you can get a better bonus with your initial deposit) and a way around the unfortunate legislation that ties the banks’ hands.  Full Tilt offers a few options.  While Epassporte and using an All Access prepaid Visa card are by far the most popular, Full Tilt, for a while, really seemed to push a third option called MyWebATM.

MyWebATM is now out of business, but the lesson that you can learn from this site still remains, as it came with many warning signs about how you should conduct your business where your money is concerned.  MyWebATM offered a service than the other online money transferring machines don’t– they would send you an ATM card, which you could use to do all the things that you would normally use an ATM card for.  Because they were a site that essentially moves money around from your bank account to your poker account, they were always at risk for eventual shutdown the way that other sites like them have been in the past.  When sites like this get shut down, users are in for a Neteller-like nightmare, where the site closes and takes your money with it.  Since most users were only using the service to transfer money back and forth, most poker players didn’t keep a hefty balance in their MyWebATM accounts for more than a few minutes, which failed to demonstrate to people the necessity of carefully choosing how you fund your desire to play poker online.

MyWebATM linked its account with your bank account, which meant that it could take over a week to process everything, which was never particularly helpful if you had a Full Tilt referral code that expires and the clock was ticking.  MyWebATM was not run from the United States (like Paypal, for instance), but rather from Panama and was not regulated by any particular authority, such as Epassporte was licensed by the Isle of Man.  This means that when you gave them your social security number, bank account information, and essentially all the other information that they could possibly need to steal your money and identity, you had no absolute guarantee that you’re safe.  You would think that this would scare people away, but many people just wanted to play poker online and didn’t carefully research all of their options to make sure that they weren’t shady.

When you’re ready to play poker online– you have your money budgeted and your Full Tilt referral code in hand– make sure you’ve taken the time to research your financing options before taking the plunge.  It’s the only way to keep yourself (and your money) safe.