Exactly once in my life I’ve taken a cash advance on a credit card. I was younger, things weren’t lining up perfectly in terms of life and money, but when I got the bill and reviewed the fees, I wondered why I would do something so stupid – it’s expensive and I should really aim to never get to that point again.
When you pull money out at a casino cashier using a credit card, that is treated as a cash advance too, with fees charged at both the casino and credit card side. When playing online, credit card companies either outright block or treat such transactions as a cash advance as well. From the get go it puts a gambler behind the curve.
But it’s also not gambling within your means, because you shouldn’t be gambling money you have to charge to a credit card either.
The best solution would be to simply not allow it. Some states (less than you’d hope or think) have put bans on using credit cards when depositing on sportsbooks and casinos.
Recently, more of the major US online operators have started banning the use of credit cards to deposit altogether. Some of it is the result of regulations in the states that ban it – turns out players were depositing in a state that allowed it, and then placing wagers within a state that didn’t.
The regulators didn’t look too kindly on that so-called loophole, and proactively now more of the major providers are taking away the card option.
This is a good evolution. While giving people choices in how to deposit is understandable, there’s plenty of options where money has to be available already – Venmo, debit card, bank info, even prepaid cards – that can serve that need nicely.
Some players don’t like the idea of linking their bank account directly to an online casino, and I can certainly understand that. But there are other ways to solve for it than using a credit card, which is not coming from money you have on hand.
Could you just pay the bill right off? Of course, but there’s always the risk that you don’t. Or start by using it for the money you do have, and then keep going with the money that you don’t.
Even the lines of credit many casino players get when they visit in person start with a verification that the person has enough money in the bank.
I’m sure there are those who have generous reward cards that might lament the loss of rewards they could get with their credit card, but it’ll be ok.
I’m not exactly sure why online operators thought it was a good idea to allow credit card transactions to begin with, but I for one am happy to see the option going away.
