BetMGM is officially done with credit cards. The biggest sportsbook and casino operator has decided to be among the gambling companies that stop using credits, so now it is blocking all new credit card deposits while at the same time phasing out the existing ones.
So what if you have a credit card linked to your BetMGM account? No worries for now because the company is allowing players to spend their current bonuses and balances before it is completely disconnected the credit cards. However, it would be wrong to assume that this is a minor change, in reality, it is a part of a much bigger situation.
It was even hard to miss that BetMGM was recently fined $100,000 in Pennsylvania for failing to stop the opening of thousands of accounts with stolen identities. This is the kind of negative publicity that no company wants, and credit cards made it really easy to commit such frauds.
It is not only about the image here. All the gambling industry is now moving away from credit cards and even the data support the move. In fact, when DraftKings removed credit cards in September, analyst Jordan Bender from Citizens JMP Securities said that they did not see any major impact on their business. Moreover, gamblers who want to fund their accounts will find other ways to do it.
FanDuel and DraftKings have long been running the business without credit cards in some states like Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon and Rhode Island. The states outlawed the use of credit cards a long time ago, and the two companies have prospered there.
The simple fact is that by not having credit cards, the industry can satisfy both regulators and fraud protection requirements simultaneously. A stolen identity leads the fraudsters to try and use credit cards for funding the fictitious gambling accounts. If that point is knocked out, their operations get tougher.
The real problem, however, is that it is the check against the biggest source of the industry’s losses from fraud and the related chargebacks and fine will be reduced. The change-over will not be instantaneous, but things have moved on. The time of credit card and online gambling are together is ending and BetMGM is now on board.
Editor-in-chief and creator Cole Smith of casinocurrencies.com, has extensive experience with casino payment systems, The site was created to provide an honest and trustworthy resource for online gambling players.