Amex Online Poker Sites

Update 11/28/2010: For Poker Players, the last site accepting accepting American Express, following passage of UIGEA, was Big Bet Poker. Unfortunately, that option is temporarily unavailable, so there are no poker rooms currently accepting this deposit option.

For casino players and sports betters, as well as poker players wanting to play against the dealer, there are still many Amex casinos, as per the table above. All of these sites offer Blackjack as well, and process Amex successfully.

About Amex Deposits

American Express has been in business since 1850 and their credit cards account for approximately 24 percent of the total dollar volume of transactions in the United States, higher than any other issuer.  American Express is typically known as a brand that caters to a more affluent clientele, which has limited its losses on payment defaults, although that competitive advantage has been lessened recently due to the credit crisis.  American Express also uses a price model that encourages more spending by charging a higher fee to the merchant and providing better rewards programs to its customers than other credit cards.  This is one of the distinct advantages in using American Express for your deposits, as the additional rewards provide added incentive. The brand also has a strong global presence, as American Express cards are currently issued to more than 87 million people worldwide with operations in more than 130 countries.

Amex Acceptance Rate on the Decline

As such, the company is one of the most reliable and secure credit card issuers. The drawback is that American Express has cracked down on transactions to gambling sites since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act began being enforced, making it difficult to use an American Express card on the poker site of your choice.  UIGEA was included in the SAFE Port Act of 2006, which was passed at midnight the day Congress adjourned for elections in 2006 and signed into law by George W. Bush on October 13, 2006.  The regulations were released on November 12, 2008 with a final compliance date of December 1, 2009.  Since, banks and credit card issuers have been required to take further steps to prevent online gambling transactions.

In response, American Express has banned merchants from accepting its cards for “gambling services (including online gambling), gambling chips, or gambling credits; or lottery tickets.”  That rule applies to both online transactions and brick and mortar transactions.

As such, most American Express transactions will be declined by the card issuer and the majority of online gambling sites do not attempt to process payments through AmEx, but there are currently two highly recommendable sites that accept American Express transactions, or at least allow you to attempt to process the payments.  Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker both list “AMEX” under their credit card options.  If your transaction is declined by American Express, you’ll have no further recourse and will have to return to the list of options available to you for deposit methods, including Visa if you are set on attempting to deposit via credit card.

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