This article will discuss some of the online poker sites that are accepting credit card deposits. If you would like to read some of the latest poker news, please visit latestpokernews.net.
With the current banking situation in the United States it can be difficult to find an online poker site that still accepts credit cards. Our top two sites both accept credit cards. Though Bodog and Cake Poker both accept credit card deposits, sometimes these deposits can be declined by your bank. You can usually contact the poker site directly to find an alternative deposit method. For non US players it is fairly easy to make a deposit with your credit card.
Click here to visit Bodog and claim a 110% bonus on your first deposit. Bodog is our top ranked credit card poker site. They accept players from around the world, including the United States. The max bonus at Bodog is $1100.
Click here to visit Cake Poker and claim a 110% bonus. Use the sign up code EZBONUS when creating your account to claim up to $600 free. Cake Poker is our second rated online poker site that accepts credit cards.
What is the Visa Credit Card?
Visa is simply a payments technology company. They don’t actually issue credit cards, set rates and fees, or extend credit. They provide payments technology to approved financial institutions. In return these merchants pay Visa a fee for processing the transactions and for allowing them to use the Visa logo. Visa provides three main types of cards that are listed below.
- Debit Cards
- Credit Cards
- Prepaid Cards
Visa is the dominant credit card around the world. Their debit card is particularly strong, with an estimated 60% market share. Visa has operations all across the world – not just the United States.
In the early part of the 21st century (2001 to 2006) it was pretty easy to deposit to an online poker site using your Visa card. You would simply make a purchase at your favorite gambling site in the same fashion that you would make any online purchase. This changed with the passage of the UIGEA in 2006.
The UIGEA is the acronym for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. It was attached to a safe port bill that preyed on American fears after 911. It would have been unlikely to pass as a law on it’s on own merit. Lawmakers attached it to the safe port bill because they were pretty sure this bill would pass, and it did.
The UIGEA had a dramatic affect on online gambling sites that were accepting Visa deposits. In fact, the UIGEA was aimed specifically at financial institutions. It did not make it illegal to gamble online. It made it against the law for them to knowingly process transactions that were going to online gambling companies. This didn’t stop online gambling companies, including poker sites, from accepting Visa deposits. It just changed the ways that they went about things.
This measure forced the online poker companies to find a work around in order to still accept Visa credit card deposits. Some online poker sites began to set up shell companies to process their Visa credit card deposits. They would set up online flower shops, online clothing stores, hardware stores, etc. This allowed them to work around the US banking restrictions.
Some online poker sites just continued to process Visa credit cards transactions as they did before. Many banks were extremely slow to start blocking transactions to online gaming companies. Despite the UIGEA, there are still banks today that process transactions directly to online poker sites.
What About Mastercard and Online Poker?
Mastercard is pretty much in the same boat as Visa is in. Like Visa above, Mastercard does not extend credit, set rates, or issue credit cards. The services that they offer are the same as the services offered by Visa.
As far as online poker goes, the above time line for Visa holds true for Mastercard. The restrictions set forth in the UIGEA were to restrict Mastercard deposits in the same fashion as Visa deposits. For whatever reason, in 2008-2009 I used to see a lot more people posting on forums about deposit success with a MasterCard than with a Visa.
In 2010 and 2011 I have seen that flip flop, and I have read more about Visa credit cards being accepted. Perhaps it has something to do with the domination of Visa in the debit card market. Many people have always thought it easier to make a deposit with a debit card rather than a credit card.
American Express and Discover for Online Poker
Currently there are no online poker sites accepting American Express deposits. This has been the case for quite awhile, and I don’t expect that to change. American Express has never been fond of processing gambling transactions, even before the UIGEA in 2006. This also holds true for the Discover credit card, as no online poker sites are accepting Discover.