Major credit cards such as Visa and MasterCard have long been the best option when depositing into an online casino, especially for US residents. They provide a swift and secure means of getting funds into your casino account instantly. Certain rules were put into place by some cards that meant it was harder to use them due to the restrictions placed on US banks, but anyone who plays in an online casino will know that they are a great option, and this looks set to get even better. With the evolving market in the US and many states going through the process of regulating online gambling themselves, with three states having already done so, the major credit cards are preparing for a few changes that will see their use rise further.
MasterCard First to Make Changes
With the regulation of online gambling in the states of Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey, and the first hand of poker being dealt in Nevada recently by Ultimate Poker, the first Nevada regulated site has now started to accept MasterCard. Whenever you make a transaction with your credit card a 4 digit code is given by the credit card company called a Merchant Category Code and these are all important when using your credit cards online as they define what type of purchase you are making and whether or not the affiliated banks should actually process that transaction. All gaming related codes were 7995 and US banks were informed that this code belonged to online gaming and therefore they should not process it, however this does not stop other banks from processing the transaction, and this makes the transaction perfectly legal and sound. There are now more codes being given out by MasterCard for example, MCC 9754 is a code for horse racing bets placed over the internet, MCC 9399 is for lotteries etc and all transactions with these codes are processed in the normal way meaning that the use of MasterCard for online gaming will indeed rise. The slight difference in codes will define whether you are placing your deposit into a US regulated site or an offshore regulated site and in the long run may make things a lot easier when using MasterCard to fund all accounts.
Online Gambling and Visa
Visa has taken a slightly different path when it comes to telling banks the difference between offshore and US, and the exact way that it works are not known. However, what is known is that the code for offshore gaming transactions is 7995 and Visa has now sent a memo to all merchants stating that this code is not only for offshore gaming transactions. This means that certain online gaming transactions will be processed in the regular way and once the transaction has been verified it is given the green light for other transactions with the same code so that they are processed quickly and legally. The upshot of all of this is that using your credit card online to fund your online casino account may be about to get a whole lot easier.
