Published: 14.01.2020, 17:59
2 min read
According to recent news, the use of credit cards in online betting will be prohibited in the UK in order to avoid having people with financial troubles to venture into minus and bet with the money that they don’t have. This prohibition has been an active debate for quite some time:
- UK Gambling Commission Seek Operator Help to Define Credit Card Gambling (18.03.2019)
- UKGC Pondering Credit Card Gambling Ban (29.07.2019)
The ban is expected to start the following week or even during this one. All online gambling companies will be prohibited to accept credit cards.
This is just one of the recent moves in the UK’s gambling sector in order “to ensure a safe gambling experience for all customers” since there has been a lot of debate over the issues associated with gambling. As specified by the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board: “Gambling with borrowed money is a well-established risk factor for harmful gambling, because it significantly increases the risk that consumers will gamble with more money than they can afford.”
Gambling with borrowed money
An estimated 20% of gambling deposits comes from players who don’t have money at all which is a serious problem. In 2019, the gambling commission created a call-to-action “to explore the consequences of restricting or prohibiting the use of credit cards [in gambling].”
There has been a wide range of responses to the call counting gambling companies, public individuals, testimonies of people who gambled this way and felt serious consequences, and many more. All of this led to the ban of credit cards usage in betting.
The debate has now switched on whether the commission will draft a new Gambling Act which is much needed.
