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We banned the use of credit cards for gambling on 14 April 2020. Find out why we did this and the effects we believe this will have on reducing gambling harms.
Published: 4 June 2020
Last updated: 23 November 2021
This version was printed or saved on: 3 May 2024
Online version: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-and-players/guide/gambling-using-a-credit-card
Overview: > Gambling businesses must not accept credit card payments for gambling.
This includes:
Credit cards can still be used to buy lottery tickets and scratchcards from a shop alongside non-gambling products. It would be an unfair expectation on 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 gambling business in the post.
A gambling business should make sure that if they are accepting payment from an e-wallet, such as PayPal or Skrill, that the money was not loaded from a credit card.
We carried out a consultation (opens in a new tab) where we asked gambling customers, businesses, treatment providers and other stakeholders whether we should ban or restrict the use of credit cards for gambling.
We are clear with gambling businesses that they must reduce the risk of harm from gambling and an important part of this is not allowing people to gamble with money that they may not have.