Credit cards ban. New regulations in sports betting.

It’s finally happened, the UK Gambling Commission just introduced a new regulation banning the use of credit cards in order to fight the growing gambling problem nationwide.

The reason for such a new implementation is the last year’s public review by the Commission itself. The research has found some interesting numbers. It was said that approximately 24 million adults are actively participating in any sort of gambling activity in Great Britain. A bit less than a half of them (10.5 million to be exact) are gambling online. The British Finance Department estimated that around 800,000 industry consumers are using their credit cards to fund their gambling. Based on that, the Gambling Commission found out that 22% of online users who are doing their wagering with the help of their credit cards fall into the problem gamblers category.

The new ban comes to life on April 14, 2020, and will apply to all online and offline gambling products, disallowing top online bookmakers to accept deposits made via credit cards, for example. The only exception is this case is non-remote lotteries like National Lottery. The goal is to help the community fight the addiction and prevent people from causing self-harm by sometimes accumulating even tens of thousands of pounds of debt.

So, putting it in a more simple way, players would not be able to use money from their credit card companies any more (for gambling purposes). What is more, bookies must follow these new rules if they want to keep their licenses. That, however, does not mean credit cards will completely disappear from your accounts.

What happens to the already deposited funds via credit cards?

For those who wonder about what is going to happen with the already deposited money (before the ban), the answer is simple. First of all, we would rather suggest you contact your online bookmaker to get the most relevant information. However, the rule of thumb is pretty self-explanatory, the money that hit your account before the ban should be good for wagering with. As for credit cards, they will not disappear as a payment method for your account. Punters will still be able to use them for withdrawals. We also suggest you logging in to your accounts and switching to an alternative payment method provided by your online betting operator.

What payment methods can we still choose from?

Debit cards

The ban does not affect debit cards, because they are pre-funded, meaning clients will only be able to play with their own money and not the money they have borrowed from the bank or credit card company, which is the key idea of this ban.

E-wallets

The all-beloved e-wallets will also be available for use. Services like Paypal, ApplePay, Skrill, etc. will still be allowed for making deposits, however, there is a little caveat to this everybody must pay attention to. If the e-wallet is using the money drawn from the credit card, such a transaction will also be disallowed. This is very important, especially for those who will try to find a loophole to walkaround this newly imposed rule.

Bank Transfers

This payment method is one of the most secure and safest ones out there. You can use them without a doubt. Those who complain about bank transfers being too slow should check with their banks on whether or not they support services like Trustly that speed up the process.

Mobile Payments

Some British top online bookmakers are allowing its clients to make mobile payments via special services. This works in the way that the money you use is later appearing on your phone bill, practically meaning that you are borrowing them. While this method is still available for use, the Gambling Commission might take a further look at it.

Facts vs. myths