BY TOM SOMACH

Canadians and Americans are sharing more than a border these days.

Internet poker players in Canada are suddenly in the same boat as their American counterparts who are finding it harder and harder these days to fund their online poker habits.

FirePay (www.firepay.com), the Internet money-transfer service that last year banned Americans from using it for online gambling transactions, is now banning Canadians from making them too.

The Canadian ban will go into effect later this month, the company said.

In a prepared statement e-mailed by FirePay to PokerHelper.com, the so-called e-wallet said: “FirePay no longer allows Canadian consumers to transact with online gambling merchants as a result in a change in our merchant acceptance policy for Canadian consumers.

“Effective February 21, 2007, FirePay will no longer allow Canadian consumer payments to online gambling merchants. Effective February 28, 2007, FirePay will no longer allow Canadian consumers to receive payments from online gambling merchants.

“All Canadian FirePay account holders will continue to be able to make purchases and receive payments from non-gambling online merchants, as well as ‘deposit from’ and ‘withdraw to’ their Canadian bank account.”

No explanation was given by the company for the ban.

FirePay last year banned U.S. customers from using it for funding online poker and other online gambling, after the U.S. Congress last year passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

Competing e-wallets NETeller (www.neteller.com), My Citadel (www.mycitadel.com), Solid Pay (www.solidpay.com) and others instituted similar U.S. gambling bans last month, after former executives of NETeller were arrested last month by U.S. authorities on gambling charges.

PayPal (www.paypal.com) was the first e-wallet to bar U.S. citizens from using it for online gambling transactions, instituting a ban several years ago, after U.S. authorities fined the company for allowing such U.S. transactions.