Visa and Mastercard excluded as payment option on German online casinos. German consumers on online casino platforms will no longer be able to use Visa and Mastercard as a mode of payment. This comes after a fresh wave of legislation targeted at the iGaming industry and payment providers transferring money to and from online casinos was unleashed.
Visa had instructed banks in Germany to not accept deposits and withdrawals made from online casinos using their cards. A financial services giant spokesperson said the company recently reached out to its retail banking partners to ensure that “only legal, properly licenced transactions are processed” using its credit cards.
German online casino players do not use their Mastercard credit cards to deposit money and withdraw their winnings from gaming websites. Casinos shared that Visa and Mastercard had advised them either to exclude the two companies from their lists of available payment options in Germany or to lose access to Visa and Mastercards in all the markets they work.
Lower Saxony ‘s Minister of Interior and Recreation Boris Pistorius, said last month that payment service providers are “legally obliged to refrain from making payments in connexion with illegal gambling” and urged them to “critically review and, if necessary immediately stop working with companies that practise illegal gambling.”
[image: Wikimedia Commons]
