Published on: 17.04.2020

UK Gambling Commission Bans Credit Card Payments to Casinos

As announced a few months ago in January, the UK Gambling Commission has now banned the use of credit cards to fund any gambling activities. The ban became effective on April 14th, 2020.

Players in land-based gambling and betting shops, as well as online casinos are now no longer able to use credit cards to pay for gambling. The ban extends to credit cards issued by banks, but also to e-wallet payments that are linked to credit cards.

All casinos licensed by the UKGC have to follow these new regulations, and they are no longer allowed to accept credit card payments from players.

Debit cards and prepaid cards

However, UK casino players are still able to use debit cards to make payments, like for example Visa Electron or Maestro cards, and prepaid cards are also not affected by the ban, as they aren't credit cards and have no credit limit.

Protecting vulnerable players

This measure from the UK Gambling Commission is yet another to improve player protection and limit compulsive gambling. The regulator wants to prevent players from gambling with money that they don't have.

Other measures include depositing limits, loss limits and others, that players can set in their player accounts. There is also an exclusion list at Gamstop, where you can register to self-exclude from gambling or set time-limits.

If you or someone you know, has a problem with gambling, and needs some help, there are free help lines available, like for example gambleaware.org ↱ in the UK.