A survey in 2020 confirmed that 16.6% of the young population under the age of 24 are into gambling, and around 29.8% of the people aged 35 to 44 are regular gamblers. Another report stated that 0.5% of the UK’s gambling population had crossed the addiction threshold. To control the situation, the department of finance of the UK government performed various studies to understand the culprit. One such study revealed that around 800,000 credit card users use it to gamble. Approximately 22% of the gamblers of online casinos use credit cards to deposit funds. Thus, UKGC took a bold step to control problem gambling and banned credit cards from all UKGC-registered casino operators. The decision is both appreciated and criticized.
Credit cards work on the policy of credits that money is withdrawn first, and later the owner is required to pay the bills. Credit cards have numerous benefits, the foremost being that in case of fraud, the owner is not held liable for the loss. But one disadvantage recently highlighted is the tendency of punters to use a credit card to gamble. Credit cards do not decline until the limit is reached, so addictive gamblers spend more than they can repay. Banning credit cards for online casinos was supposed to decrease the percentage of problem gamblers in the UK which is currently around 0.5% of the population.
UKGC imposed the banned credit card use in April 2020 given several reports that said 22% of credit card gamblers were problem gamblers. While a few people appreciate the ban, most highly criticise UKGC’s decision. They believe that the ban has not reduced the number of problem gamblers but rather made gambling transactions more complicated. The argument is that punters could find many ways to escape this ban. For example, players are trying to find casino with credit cards that can offer opportunities to make transactions more convenient. In the gaming industry, there are numerous casinos that accept credit cards, thus British players may simply get around this restriction.
There is no marked decrease in the addicted population, but UKGC is hopeful to see significant improvement in the condition. While UKGC believes that most people who gamble and have credit cards use them on casino sites, the truth is that most UK gamblers use other payment methods such as e-wallets, recharge cards, debit cards, and net banking.
You can not use a credit card on any UKGC-registered online casino. All the popular platforms had to remove credit cards as a payment option. While it might seem there is no way to use a credit card while gambling, punters can escape the block in various ways.
The gambling industry is an ever-growing industry, and you can find a new casino every day in the market. Most of these casinos are not registered under UKGC and do not possess their license. So, they need not obey restrictions imposed by UKGC. You can find a site with SSL encryption without a permit, the sites are thus safe, yet you can use credit cards to deposit in the casino. Moreover, some casinos do not need any verification. The process of account setup in these casino platforms is quick and easy.
Moreover, these sites offer lucrative bonuses to attract more customers and new gamblers. They need not pay heavy taxes to the licenser such as UKGC, Malta, etc. they make a significant profit and have funds to provide welcome bonuses up to five times more than licensed casino operators. Punters often end up escaping bans of self-exclusion plans and bans of UKGC.
They not only get to use any payment method they want, including credit cards but also get other perks such as high-value bonuses, classic games, and more. Most registered casinos have set a limit for betting, but these operators do not have such limitations. It seems that the ban on credit cards has not reduced the number of gamblers; instead, have directed the crowd towards these casinos.
One can always opt for other payment methods to gamble. Most casinos offer different payment options such as debit cards, recharge cards, pay later cards, e-wallets, bank transfers, etc. If you still need to credit card, you can set up a suitable e-wallet account and link your credit card to the wallet. You can recharge the wallet with your credit card and use the money to deposit funds in the casino.
The intention of UKGC behind banning credit cards is understandable. Still, it does not seem to work as per their speculations. Non-registered casinos that accept credit cards are easy to find and offer lucrative bonuses. As a result, the large group of gamblers that use credit cards also makes use of other payment options or different casino websites. While the ban on credit cards is ineffective, other ways to control the addiction are self-exclusion programs by Gamstop, Gamban, Betblocker, NetNanny, and a few different sites. One can also opt to block credit or debit cards to control their gambling tendency.
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