You days of being able to deposit at Australian online casinos using credit cards may be numbered. A report commissioned by the Australian Banking Association (ABA) was recently released and the report supports a credit card ban on all online gambling in Australia.
If the ABA decides to follow the recommendations of the report, it will make depositing at online casinos much more difficult. However, there are other options.
Every Customer Counts Report Recommends Credit Card Ban
Last year, the Australian Banking Association commissioned a report that would examine the use of credit cards for online gambling. That paper, entitled Every Customer Counts, was recently released and the report effectively recommends that credit cards not be allowed for online gambling.
As stated in the report, “the associated risks were considered to significantly outweigh any potential benefits to clients, especially vulnerable populations.” The report gathered information from various sources, including an 813 person short web survey. Also, the report included written submissions from 40 different venues that included gambling operators, consumer protection advocates, academics, government agencies, and gambling counselors.
In April the UK banned the use of credit cards for gambling. Some lenders in Australia, such as Macquarie, Suncorp and Citi, have such a policy. If you use your credit card to gamble, borrowing at c20%pa, you must be a problem gambler Big 4? https://t.co/q5ofo8cqFp
— Phillip Cornwell (@DollopMcPhusil) December 22, 2020
From the survey portion of the report, approximately 81% of those surveyed supported some form of limits on credit card transactions. Of that number, 54% of people supported a complete ban on credit cards. 27% supported daily limits. Only around 7% of those surveyed oppose a ban.
According to the survey, the group that uses credit cards for gambling the most were 18 to 29-year-olds. Older players use credit cards much more infrequently for online gambling.
ABA Ban Was Always Coming
If you have been paying attention to the online gambling landscape over the last couple of years, you knew a potential ban was coming. Macquarie Bank started banning the use of credit cards for online gambling back in June 2019. Earlier this year, Bank Australia started its ban on credit cards for gambling purposes.
Bank Australia has announced a ban on credit cards for the purposes of gambling and gaming. The move is backed by 87% of the bank's customer base.https://t.co/WKO7o9y72G
— Gambling News (@thegamblingnews) October 12, 2020
While the report is not a guarantee that a ban is coming, many feel that the ABA will use this report to enact a nationwide ban. What this will mean is that you will no longer be able to use credit cards from any Australian bank for online gambling.
This will make it much more difficult to deposit at Australian online casinos, but not impossible. We will give you a few alternative ideas.
Alternative Ways to Deposit After a Credit Card Ban
Once a credit card ban begins, you will have to come up with an alternative way to make a deposit. Here are some you can consider:
Neosurf – You can use the Neosurf prepaid card at many Aussie online casinos. You can get a voucher from a local Neosurf merchant and use the voucher in lieu of a credit card.
Bitcoin – Nearly all online casinos in Australia accept Bitcoin. You can deposit with Bitcoin easily since banks do not regulate it.
Altcoins – If you would rather HODL you Bitcoin (we can’t blame you), you can use other forms of cryptocurrency. Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, and Tether are the Bitcoin alternatives available at most online casinos.
Gift Cards – There are a few casinos that will let you use retail gift cards to make deposits. If you have some gift cards lying around, you may be able to redeem them for casino credit.
Prepaid Debit Cards – No, we are not joking. If you have a prepaid Visa or MasterCard, some of these may still work for online gambling. Some banks do not regulate their debit cards the same way they do standard cards. We won’t guarantee this will work. However, we do see this trick work in some countries that have credit card restrictions.
Finally, if all else fails, contact customer support to see if they have alternative ways to fund your account. Some offer deposit alternatives that are not normally listed.