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Ukash Poker Sites

So many of the financial institutions and even betting books I’ve discussed recently date back decades, so Ukash seems like a babe in comparison. While American Express has been around since 1850 and Ladbrokes has been around since the 1880s, Ukash was founded in 2005. So you might expect there to be relatively few Ukash poker sites using their financial services. You would be wrong.

Starting so recently might be something of an advantage in the online poker industry. This means the business is entirely focused on–even built around–electronic commerce. Ukash comes into the gambling market led by people whose sole focus is new technologies and how they can be used to help people get their money and spend their money. You could say Ukash was built to accommodate customers like online shopers and Internet poker players.

Ukash Cash Payment Network

That isn’t to say Ukash is a small start-up company. Ukash is found in 33 different countries on 5 continents worldwide. The London-based financial services firm, actually the trading name of Smart Voucher Limited, has placed payment terminals in retail outlets in these thirty-three nations in just over 5 years.

You might think newness belies credibility. That wouldn’t be the case, as Ukash is overseen by Financial Services Authority, a non-government organization appointed by the Treasury of England. This won’t always be the case, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced the abolishment of the FSA, effective by 2012 at the latest. At that point, a Prudential Regulatory Authority will take over the duties of the FSA. Whatever the case might be, Ukash is going to submit to thorough financial oversight.

Why Call It U-Kash?

Let me be the first to say I hate company names that include modern misspellings and nu-speak. It smacks so much of the Internet and texting and all the things which seem to cheapen the written word at times. But in the case of “Ukash”, I’ll give the company credit for including “UK” in its title, which I’m sure is the purpose of the name. So it’s clever in its own way. But let’s get on to the review.

Ukash Poker Websites

Half of the poker sites I’ve been talking about recently allow deposits from Ukash. That’s a representative sample of the online card room industry, I would say. Many of the websites I’ve visited and played poker at use Ukash, but there seem to be an equal number which don’t. Sportsbook Poker, Players-Only Poker, Lock Poker, and Carbon Poker do not use U-Kash as a service. The following four do, though.

• Absolute Poker – Deposits Only
• Cake Poker – Deposits Only
• Luvin Poker – Prepaid Deposits
• Ub.com – Deposits and Withdrawals

UB.com actually allows withdrawals with Ukash. These withdrawals have a mininum amount of $50 and a maximum amount of $5000. You are restricted to one withdrawal per day, which is actually way ahead of the curve. Many online cash transfers only allow 1 withdrawal per 5 days or once per week. Cashouts using Ukash at UB Poker is free of charge, which is another huge advantage.

I’ve done some checking and Ukash can be used at some of the biggest online poker rooms and casinos, such as PokerStars and Bodog. This adds significant additional value to opening a Ukash account.

Is Ukash Worth Joining?

I’d say that Ukash is worth joining. Not only will you be able to make deposits at a significant number of pokers sites on the Internet, but you’ll be able to get cash through your Ukash account in many retail outlets and electronic cash transfer kiosks around the globe. While Ukash might not be as useful for American poker players who can’t use it at Sportsbook Poker or Players Only Poker, and are probably pretty used to their PayPal account by now, gamblers and shoppers from the United Kingdom and other non-North American countries should get plenty of use out of the account.

Ukash Gambling Sites

There something else to consider. Ukash is still a relatively new, growing business. There’s still room for growth and you can expect that growth to happen. Many of the card rooms and casino operators where Ukash isn’t available are likely to include Ukash at some time in the future.

Take Diners Club International, which I’ve been talking about this week, as an comparison. Diners Club has been around since 1950, so if they were going to come to arrangements with more online gambling operators, they would have done so a long time ago. They’ve have 10-15 years to get heavily involved in the electronic gaming business, and they haven’t.

Ukash has had 5-6 years to get into e-casinos, roughly a third of the time Diners Club has. In that time, they’ve been placing services in 33 countries while growing their online presence. A significant portion of that time, online casinos might have looked at Ukash as a minor player. So there might be fewer Ukash poker sites simply because there hasn’t been enough time to get all this business done, something the company will rectify in the near future.