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Preventing credit card use
Published: 17 May 2024
Last updated: 17 May 2024
This version was printed or saved on: 17 March 2025
Online version: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/licensees-and-businesses/guide/preventing-credit-card-use
Overview: On 14 April 2020 the Gambling Commission announced a ban on gambling operators allowing consumers in Great Britain to use credit cards to gamble. The ban aims to reduce the risks of harm to consumers from gambling with money they do not have.
The ban introduced Licence condition 6.1.2 to LCCP which requires that operators in the following sectors must not accept credit card payments for gambling:
Operators should also make sure that if they are accepting payments from an e-wallet, that the money was not loaded from a credit card.
In addition, the following non-remote operators must not participate in, arrange, permit or knowingly facilitate the giving of credit in connection with gambling:
The credit card ban does not extend to non-remote lottery operating licences, meaning that credit cards can still be used to buy lottery tickets and scratchcards from a shop alongside non-gambling products. This is because it would be unreasonable to expect retailers to identify and prevent credit card payments for lottery tickets if they form part of a wider shop.
Credit cards can also be used to buy lottery tickets and scratchcards where payment is sent by post, for example, card details are sent to the lottery operator in the post.
Land-based operators must ensure they do not permit customers to use credit cards for any gambling transaction made on a card payment terminal. This includes ‘cashback’ transactions where a customer uses their card to make a payment on a terminal and the operator provides cash or tokens for gambling in exchange for that card payment.
Requirements that need to be taken into account include:
We would therefore consider it to be a breach of relevant provisions if an operator was to provide cashback for gambling via a credit card payment made on a card payment terminal.
It is acceptable for operators to offer cashback via other types of card payment, for example debit card or pre-paid card, made on card payment terminals. We would however also remind operators that any such card transactions should not take place when a customer is gambling.
If you are unsure whether your card payment terminals are configured to prevent credit cards, or otherwise you are aware that they do accept credit cards, you should put procedures in place immediately to prevent such transactions.
You may wish to speak to your terminal provider to ask whether they can re-configure the terminals to prevent them accepting credit cards. This should include any credit card payments made via smartphone (for example Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay).
The ban on credit cards extends to payments for gambling made by credit card through any money service business (MSB) such as an e-wallet or other fintech and electronic money institutions that enable e-money transfers.
Licence condition 6.1.2 prevents gambling operators from accepting payments by credit card either directly or through any MSB which allows credit cards deposits.
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.
This means that operators must not accept any payment through an MSB unless the MSB has prevented the use of credit cards for gambling through their services. This includes, for example, circumstances where an 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.
Operators must therefore take the following course of action before accepting customer payments via any MSB (including through any card payment instruments issued by those MSBs to its customers):