SAN DIEGO -- In what may be a first in the world of online gaming, Virtual Gaming Technologies Inc. announced that it has received accreditation from Barclay's Bank in England for gaming transactions and other Internet commerce.
The company anticipates a launch date of processing credit cards through the Barclay's system within the next 30 days. Virtual Gaming will be able to accept VISA and MasterCard transactions for its worldwide gaming customers over a secure platform over the Internet.
The company must have $300,000 in reserves with Barclay's as a condition of the contract. In addition, each player will be limited to a maximum expenditure in terms of their web betting. The initial betting limit is expected to be $12,000/month.
The wagering is limited to non-U.S. customers. To guarantee this, all internet service providers' identifuctions and credit card numbers will be scanned to ensure that they do not originate in the US.
While other online gaming-related companies obviously process credit cards, they're most often doing this through e-commerce corporations who work, in turn with the gaming operators. In this instance, VISA and Mastercard seem to be going into this with their eyes wide open. VISA says that provided a merchant is operating within the limits of the law, that merchant has the right to accept credit cards.
According to Joseph Paravia, president and chief executive officer of the company, "This is another factor that separates our company as a leader in the Internet gaming industry. Few companies have yet taken the care and effort to meet the stringent requirements necessary to meet Barclay's, Visa and MasterCard's criteria for processing gaming transactions over the Internet. Our customers and our investors can have confidence in our relationship with Barclay's, one of the largest banks in the world."
Parivia told IGN that it took his company over a year of negotiations with Barclays to make this happen. He noted that they are currently developing criteria for online gaming operations. If companies meet those criteria (including not taking US players), they will begin processing for other operators by the end of September.
Virtual Gaming Technologies (Antigua) Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of the company) conducts online gaming, over the Internet, exclusively targeting non-U.S. residents. Its online Virtual Casino at: http://www.virtcasino.com, has been accepting membership applications since November 1997. The company also offers an Internet based pari-mutuel sports betting service for non-U.S. residents at: http://www.virtsports.com. The company's corporate Web site is at: http://www.virtgame.com.