UKGC: credit card ban covers e-wallets
The UK Gambling Commission has warned betting companies to note that its ban on credit card gambling also covers e-wallets.
UK.- The Gambling Commission has written to betting operators to clarify that the ban on credit card betting introduced in April also covers credit card payments taken via digital money services and ewallets, such as Revolut.
It says operators must put systems in place to prevent gambling payments using such products, which must include rejecting payments from any money services that do not have their own blocks on credit card payments.
The commission said its new licence condition 6.1.2 prohibited gambling operators from accepting payments by credit card directly but also via any kind of e-wallet or fintech payment platform that allowed credit card deposits.
The commission said in the communication: “One of our key intentions in banning gambling with credit cards was to maximise the levels of friction during the process of accessing and using borrowed funds for gambling, in order to reduce the risk of consumers experiencing harm from gambling with borrowed money.
“It is important for operators to ensure that the credit card ban cannot be easily circumvented by simply topping up an e-wallet or online money transfer account directly from a credit card, where those funds could then be used for gambling with very little friction in the transactional process.
“We explained in the credit cards consultation and in our responses that this would mean that operators could not accept any payment through an MSB (Money Service Business) unless the MSB has prevented the use of credit cards for gambling through their services.
“This includes, for example, circumstances where a MSB allows its customers to transfer funds from a credit card into a wallet or account which could then be used by the customer to make gambling deposits.”
The commission said that before accepting customer payments via any MSB, operators must be sure that customers of that MSB cannot fund their e-accounts or e-wallets with credit card deposits and then use those funds for gambling.
It said operators must block all payments made through such MSBs that have not put in place their own block to prevent credit card deposits being used for gambling.
