By Kevin Felix | April 10, 2007

“Coming soon” was the operative phrase in a recent e-mail to customers from online poker room, UltimateBet.com. The subject at hand was new method by which U.S. customers could withdraw funds. It is called Add-Funds (yes, you withdraw funds with something called Add-Funds) and is actually the same vehicle implemented by Absolute Poker not too long ago. This makes sense, since Absolute owns UltimateBet.

On the depositing end, Add-Funds is a pre-paid calling card which can also be used as currency with some merchants. But on the cashout side, it is an ACH withdrawal, which means funds flow from your UltimateBet account directly to your bank. No middleman, no e-wallet.

All that is required to use Add-Funds is a valid U.S. bank account (in your name), the bank account number, and routing number. When UltimateBet and Add-Funds receive that information, an electronic check will be sent directly to the appropriate bank account and in 3-5 business days, the money will be there.

As far as anyone can tell, customers will not be required to have used Add-Funds as a deposit method in order to use it to withdraw. Right now, only ePassporte, bank wires, and physical checks are available methods via which a U.S. player can access the funds in his UltimateBet account, so the online poker room wants to give players another option.

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