Bank of America Crash Causes Gamblers Panic

Bank of America’s online banking platform suffered continuous crashing issues all day Friday, January 14th, 2011. We all know that websites incur problems now and again, but this particular matter brought about concerns for a lot of online gamblers in the United States.

As previously reported, the US Department of Justice seized millions of dollars in suspected internet gambling funds in Washington late last year, much of those coming from a Bank of America branch in that region. American online poker, casino and sports betting fans were instantly struck with fear that something may be happening to their gambling account funds when they were unable to access them via the online version of Bank of America last week.

The United States has been trying to crack down on financial institutions that facilitate monetary transfers between Americans and online gambling sites since invoking the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) back in 2006. Fortunately for US online gamblers, that was not the problem last Friday.

A spokesperson for Bank of America stated that the issue was caused merely by a routine systems change. Apparently it took most of the day to complete the maintenance, but once it was finished, the website was back up and running a usual.

There was even a rumor passing around that the sluggish server had been caused by an information dump, where internal documents were being disposed of due to whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. The spokesperson for the financial institution was quick to resolve those rumors, stating that the server issues had absolutely nothing to do with security.

Other banks have experienced similar problems in recent months, involving online financial institutions that make transfers to and from online gambling related websites, as well as some that do not. Server crashes are not consolidated to Bank of America alone, and as is the nature of the world wide web, these things are to be expected from time to time.

I guess it’s just human nature, however, to jump to unsavory conclusions when there have been so many instances revolving around the illegal activities of online gambling. With millions of dollars in the double digit range having been seized across states like Washington and New York in the last few months, it is to be expected that online poker, casino and sports betting enthusiasts would get a bit nervous when access of their funds becomes questionable. Luckily, such was not the case this time!