Neteller Prepares for Re-entry to US Market

Neteller is a top quality e-wallet service with an eye on service to online gamblers. Owned by British based Optimal Payments PLC, Neteller is based on the independent Isle of Man. A relative old-timer in the online gaming market, Neteller was founded in Canada in 1999, but they relocated to the Isle of Man in 2004.

Neteller started into the online gambling payment business in 2000 and by 2005 it was handing payments for 80% of the world's gambling properties. At that time, 95% of Neteller's revenues were from fund transfers associated with gaming merchants, and most of that business with US based players. In July of 2007, however, Neteller withdrew from the US markets, reducing its revenues from a maximum of $239 million in 2006 to $44 million in 2010. This was a huge loss not only for Neteller, but for US players as well, as Neteller was not only the biggest and best e-wallet, it was also able to deal with every type of play establishment from full-service casinos to sports books and card rooms.

With five years of deliberations and coming to terms with the variety of legal issues facing gaming-friendly institutions in the United States, and after a five-year absence, Neteller is getting ready for a return to the US!

"We have great growth in all facets of our business," commented Optimal CEO Joel Leonoff on company prospects in a recent interview. The growth to which he refers is due in great part to Optimal's online processing business Netbanx and to Neteller. Neteller will be the focus of Optimal's return to the US markets. The Neteller brand "still has a very valuable, well-regarded reputation" in the US, according to Leonoff.

So far only the states of Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware have legalized online gambling, but in 2013 and 2014 more states are expected to follow suit, including California and Hawaii. Leonoff is expecting a total of ten states to provide legalization for domestically based online gaming by the end of next year. He is even optimistic about more permissive federal legislation, what he calls "the holy grail for gaming", in the foreseeable future.

Maybe the best news is that Optimal/Neteller has signed an agreement with the online branch of Nevada based gaming monster, Caesar's Entertainment! Caesar's is also expecting a rapid expansion of -markets for their new online gaming division. This partnership will make safe global money handling easy for Caesar's as well as a huge step forward for Neteller. Once Neteller has a foothold for US based players, it will be not only a terrific way to handle money for Caesar's, but also for the nearly limitless variety of online gaming institutions available, based throughout the world.

We share Mr. Leonoff's optimism for US players and for US based online casinos. The next couple of years are going to see a huge increase of access for players throughout the United States, and this is a major step in the right direction. We are very pleased to see Neteller's return to our market.