Safe and accurate payment instruments are easy to come by, with almost all of them using 128-bit encryption and being run on hardware with 100% redundancy. The difficulty seems to be finding payment mechanisms that are simple and consistent.
Simple online payment systems should process your orders quickly successfully and without much in the way of buyer interaction beyond the standard card number, name and address. However, many online gamblers are finding that depositing into casino accounts with credit cards is no longer that simple. Some casinos ask for faxed verification of a player’s identity before processing credit card transactions, and in many cases, credit card purchases get rejected despite the cardholder having plenty of “credit” left on their card.
When a valid card gets rejected by an online casino, it is because of one of two reasons. Either has to do with the risk profile of the deposit, or the position of the card issuing bank on online gaming purchases.
When the card is rejected because of the risk profile of the purchase it is usually due to either abnormal purchasing behavior or the geographic location of the purchaser (normally rejection occurs when the cardholder tries to make an online purchase from outside their country of residence). The purchase rejection is thus a cardholder protection mechanism, set up to stop a thief from using a stolen card. These type of rejections can generally be rectified by a call to the cardholder’s bank, verifying the intent of the purchase.
The other main of credit card rejection is the credit card issuing bank’s position on online gaming transactions. Unfortunately, in this situation a call to your credit card issuer wont get your purchase authorized, and the cardholder must use another card, or an alternative payment mechanism, to complete the deposit. The issue arises because all online gaming businesses are required by the credit card companies to designate their online gaming transactions with the code ‘7995’. 7995 tells the credit card company that the purchase requested is an online gaming transaction, and in many cases that transaction gets rejected without hesitation. The bank’s rather myopic position on online gaming transactions stems in-part from their fear that the purchase may be disputed at a later date by the card-holder. In practice, online gamblers rarely dispute their gaming deposits because they quickly get blacklisted from gambling online if they should ever decide to welsh on their bet. Being blacklisted means that the online gambler would find it VERY hard to open a new account at any online casino or sportsbook.
What is important to remember is that in both cases, your online casino isn’t rejecting your credit card, your issuing bank (the company that issued you your card) is.
Issuing Banks will most likely maintain their position on online gaming transactions until states begin offering online gaming within their own boarders. Until that time online gamblers are encouraged by casinos and sportsbooks to utilize the many alternative ‘non-credit card’ payment options available at their sites. The most popular of these online alternatives is Neteller, PrePaid ATM, ACH, 900 Pay, FirePay, Gaming Card and EcoCard.
Using any of these popular online payment mechanisms will help you avoid rejected deposits, and will ensure that you have a online gaming payment option with longevity. Additionally, many of these payment methods are less expensive than credit cards for your casino to process than credit cards and many casinos pass these savings on to players in the form of additional bonuses for using one payment method over another.
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