Reports by IDG News Service have revealed that more Americans are accessing online gambling sites than ever before in the lead up to this year's Superbowl. This is despite last year's legislation that prohibits U.S. financial institutions from processing payments to online gambling sites.

According to Scansafe, a top cybersecurity vendor, visits to gambling websites have increased by 77 percent between January 23 and 31. Most of the action relates to this year's Superbowl, the final of which is scheduled for this Sunday.

ScanSafe investigates over six billion web request each month as part of its web-blocking service provided to large U.S. businesses. The firm's vice president Dan Nadir has said that last year's anti-gambling legislation has done little to deter people from visiting gambling websites and has had virtually no impact on numbers. While the firm has not provided media with a full breakdown of sites visited, Nadir has confirmed that gambling represents approximately 3.4 percent of the content blocked for its clients. Scansafe can track visits to online gambling sites but is unable to track the number of bets completed online.

In comparison, 15.1 percent of Scansafe's blocked content relates to instant messaging and chat facilities, while 14.6 percent is advertising. A further 7.2 percent and 3.9 percent relates to web mail and pornography respectively. 

Nadir also commented that the number of Visits to sites such as Bodog have increased this week with approximately 53 percent of traffic directed to sports betting firms rather than lottery or casino sites. Nadir told IDG News Services that the majority of Scansafe's clients block employees from accessing gambling sites because they distrust the security employed by most gambling sites and because of lower productivity levels blamed on gambling sites.

While the legislation prohibiting financial institutions from processing transactions to gambling sites was signed into effect in October 2006, processing regulations under the law are not expected to be announced until mid July this year. However, some online gambling firms are already advising their U.S. customers to make contingency plans.

PokerRoom.com has been one of the first to advise customers to cash out. In a statement published on its website, the firm advised that "the remaining companies that process cashouts from PokerRoom.com to our players in the United States have contacted us to say that in the near future they will no longer facilitate these transactions. As such, we would advise all American players who have not cashed out already to do so immediately."

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