Visa and Mastercard are two of the most well-known credit card brands, and they are widely recognized all over the globe. However, they are not a panacea in the iGaming industry.
Those who run online casinos or sportsbooks and assume that accepting payments from the major credit card companies would guarantee smooth sailing are in for a rude awakening. Credit cards aren’t the go-to payment method (or even an alternative) for many players in a number of marketplaces owing to rules or a lack of access to financial products.
Gambling is seen as a potentially dangerous business because of its possible association with criminal organizations, illegal activities like money laundering, and even the funding of terrorist groups. The four-digit Merchant Category Code (MCC) is used by credit card companies to classify the business. Independent of governmental control, private gaming establishments use the MCC of 7995. The MCC code 7995 alerts credit card companies to prevent transactions from going through when a cardholder is located in a country or area where online gambling is illegal.
Even if gambling is legal in a player’s country, strict laws, a shaky financial system, or the player’s lack of a formal bank account might prevent them from making a deposit. Fortunately, a variety of different services are available to gamers, including:
- Bank or wire transfers
- Instant transfers
- Payment gateways
- E-wallets
- Cryptocurrencies
Online casinos and sportsbooks may streamline their payment processing by learning which means of payment are most popular in their target areas. It will also be useful for you to look at new online casinos that accept paysafe 2023.
Europe
Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted throughout Europe, however local alternatives exist in certain countries, especially those that prohibit the use of credit cards for gambling transactions.
Credit card usage for internet gambling or betting is prohibited under German law. Instead, Germans utilize Sofort, the market leader in online payments in Germany. Sofort is widely used in Germany, but it has also gained traction in Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands due to its safe transactions and easy process.
The United Kingdom is one of the major e-commerce marketplaces in Europe, with over 100% of its 67 million residents utilizing the internet. The nation has a huge gambling sector, which is in part owing to the widespread cultural acceptance of wagering on football and other sports. Reporting in 2021, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission found that over 18% of adults in the UK have participated in some kind of internet gambling (not including the national lottery).
Regulations intended to curb compulsive gambling have made it illegal to use credit cards to fund gambling activities anywhere in the nation as of April 2020. Debit cards, PayPal, and a newer, more secure and transparent form of banking that relies on application programming interfaces and open-source software are all popular methods of payment in the UK.
Banking system In Portugal, the payment system is dominated by Multibanco, which has over 12,700 ATMs from 27 different banks. With MB Net, Multibanco’s online payment service, your credit card information is encrypted and never shared with the merchant. In addition to these two ways, open banking, direct debit, and bank transfers are also widely used in the nation.
Skrill and Neosurf are two of the most well-liked online payment systems on the African continent. Both of these approaches ensure that the user’s account information is safe from prying eyes.
Users may fund their Neosurf accounts with a credit card, however the service operates mostly via vouchers. You may get vouchers from stores all across the continent, and when you redeem the code, the money from the coupon will be sent into your account.
Skrill is a digital wallet that accepts payments in over 40 different currencies and is used in 180 different countries. Skrill is one of the most well-known online payment systems, with acceptance on around 150,000 websites and a VIP program that allows some customers to send money to other Skrill account holders for free.
Europe:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- Skrill
- Neosurf
- Sofort
- PayPal
- Multibanco
- Open banking
Latin America
Credit cards are widely used in the UK and Europe, but they are far less common in Latin America.
Only 55% of Latin American individuals have bank accounts and only 19% have credit cards, according to a survey by MasterCard in 2020. Online shoppers in the area often utilize bank transfers instead of credit cards. At checkout, users may choose their preferred payment method from a list of available service providers or merchants, or they can be forwarded to their bank’s payment website. Authorization of payments often happens promptly.
In several Latin American countries, banks and other financial institutions have a deep-seated distrust of the gambling business and will not process transactions for sportsbooks and casinos, making payment processors even more crucial.
Boleto Bancário, the official payment system governed by the Central Bank of Brazil, is the most widely used local payment system in Brazil. The customer may pay using Boleto Bancário at any participating bank or from an approved vendor. Payment options for players include 48,000 ATMs nationwide, mobile banking, and an internet portal. Mexico isn’t the only Latin American country where you’ll find a system like this in use.
Latin America:
- Bank transfers
- Boleto Bancário
India
Seventy-three percent of Indians polled by YouGov in 2021 said they preferred playing at an online casino over a traditional one.
Fortunately, Indian gamers have access to a unified system of national financial institutions. The NPCI, or National Payments Corporation of India, is a government-owned company that supports the banking industry in India. The Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app makes use of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for simple and quick money transfers between bank accounts on the go.
PhonePe, an app that enables users to make rapid, secure payments using BHIM UPI, credit cards, debit cards, or e-wallets, is the most widely used form of electronic payment in India. PayTM, which also boasts approximately 25 million registered customers, is quite common in India. The service extends to in-store purchases as well as those made through electronic wallets and mobile payments.
India:
- PhonePe
- BHIM UPI
- PayTM
Africa
The iGaming industry in Africa is following a similar but distinct trajectory to the rest of the continent’s economy.
Credit cards are even more uncommon than bank accounts in Africa. Instead, African players have embraced mobile banking, a trend that is expanding at double the pace it is elsewhere in the world.
In Kenya, for instance, 58% of the adult population has a cell account, making mobile money transfer services like M-pesa quite popular. Sports bettors in both Kenya and Tanzania prefer using M-Pesa, and the service is widely available across both nations.
The many available methods of payment in Nigeria have contributed to the rapid growth of the country’s sports betting industry.
Interswitch, headquartered in Lagos, processes payments between several Nigerian banks. One of Nigeria’s most prominent financial institutions, GTBank, developed the GTPay payment gateway to facilitate hassle-free transactions using debit cards issued by other institutions on the Interswitch network.
One of the most rapidly expanding gateways in the nation is Flutterwave’s RAVE. The online payment system streamlines, secures, and simplifies the process of accepting payments online for companies and individuals.
Africa:
- M-Pesa
- GTPay
- RAVE
Canada
In Canada, Interac is among the most widely used payment methods. Interac began processing electronic funds transfers in 1996, after being established in 1984. Because of its lengthy history and widespread availability, the service is used by about 60% of the approximately 40 million people in the country. When compared, PayPal only has around 6 million users in Canada. Gigadat, a solution provider that operates on the Interac network, is one of the most popular means of payment for Canadian online casinos.
Canada:
- Interac
- Gigadat
Southeast Asia
Some of the world’s greatest economies and most sought-after gaming markets may be found in Asia.
Online casino and sports betting customers in the area choose e-wallets over other payment methods including credit cards, debit cards, and wire transfers. Having accepted payments from clients without a credit card since its founding in 2003, payment processor 2C2P has grown to become one of the biggest payment systems in Asia.
Using Thaiepay, business owners in Thailand may take credit card payments from customers using Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Another major domestic processor, PaysBuy simplifies both the sending and receiving of internet payments. PaysBuy functions similarly to PayPal in that it allows online vendors to be paid using Visa, MasterCard, and even local bank accounts. The use of cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange is also widespread in the region.
Asia:
- 2C2P
- Thaiepay
- Paysbuy
Cryptocurrency
The blockchain movement has been ongoing for some time. Players are becoming used to and even insisting upon making deposits and withdrawals using cryptocurrency because to its privacy and decentralization. Payment with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin is becoming more expected by gamers.
When entering a new market, it is important for online casinos and sportsbooks to take into account both local legislation and the available resources for players. There is nothing preventing players from leaving your platform for another that does offer their preferred way of making deposits and withdrawals if your platform doesn’t.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
