It’s a consideration few gamers may have made as they prepared to dive into the freshly regulated online gambling markets of New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada. But according to a new report from Bloomberg, funding online gambling wagers with credit cards isn’t a sure bet.
Credit-card issuers Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and American Express Co., along with EBay Inc.’s PayPal, aren’t allowing the transactions, Bloomberg reports.
Delaware and Nevada already allow Internet wagering and New Jersey will join the mix later this month.
The rejections threaten a nascent business with the potential to reach $7.4 billion in annual revenue in four years, the estimate of researcher H2 Gambling Capital. Some Visa and MasterCard issuers have concerns over potential liability for underage wagering or other violations, according to the American Bankers Association.
“There are still things that can go wrong even with controls in place,” Steve Kenneally, vice president for regulatory compliance at the ABA, tells Bloomberg. “Does the revenue I get offset the potential downside?”
As of this writing, American Express and PayPal will not process gambling transactions “of any kind.”
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