Online Casinos Accepting Credit Cards

We live in an era of plastic. Every single legal online casino in the country accepts credit cards as a deposit method. However, the exact lineup of usable cards changes from one casino app to another. For the most part, you can find options for Visa and Mastercard everywhere, but other card brands are a bit hit-or-miss.

There are some drawbacks to using credit cards, though. One of the biggest problems is that it is quite difficult to withdraw to them. That said, we’ll discuss your options on that front below. You may also run into difficulties with your issuing bank or financial institution, but more on that later.

At any rate, there’s no denying that online casino banking with credit cards is a ubiquitous option, regardless of the legal state from which you are depositing. Here is a rundown on exactly how using your credit card to play online casino games works.

Reasons for using your credit card to play

Every online casino offers the opportunity to deposit with a credit card. The apps have their reasons for doing so, but there are also reasons that you might want to take advantage of the opportunity, too.

Let’s run through the different elements that might make a credit card deposit a worthwhile option.

Familiarity

You may be new to online casinos. You may not be sure how depositing works. In that case, you might want to use a deposit method you already understand.

Credit cards fit that bill. Very few players have never used a credit card before, and you’ve likely used a credit card to purchase goods and services online before.

Hence, using a credit card to deposit into your online casino account may seem like a more familiar option than the others. If you’ve never dealt with e-checks, PayNearMe, Play+ prepaid cards, or any of the other common options, you might want to fund your early experiences at online casinos with a reliable credit card.

Speed

You can go from zero to playing in no time if you use a credit card to make your deposit. It is unlikely that you will be able to discern a noticeable wait from the time you submit your deposit request to the time that it credits your account with the deposit amount.

You can shorten the time even further if you are comfortable saving your credit card information with your chosen online casino app. In that case, depositing anew may literally be a one-button or two-button transaction.

Given how tedious it can be to set up some of the other deposit methods, it might appeal to you that credit cards move so quickly. The most time-consuming part is usually the journey to and from your wallet—whether in your pocket or the next room—to retrieve the card number.

Flexibility

As mentioned earlier, you cannot find an online casino app in the US that does not offer credit cards as a viable deposit method. If you commonly use a Visa or Mastercard, it would be rare to find an app that didn’t happily accept your deposit requests from those sources.

Using a credit card also gives you a different kind of flexibility. Namely, you don’t necessarily need cash on-hand to make your deposit. Paying back debt over time is, of course, a card company’s entire business model.

However, even though this attribute is a positive for convenience, we must strongly caution you against depositing on credit without the appropriate cash reserves to cover your debts. It is neither prudent nor responsible to bet money you don’t have, and it’s undeniable that a credit card could potentially allow that.

Security

The last positive aspect of using a credit card for your online casino transactions is the security. The top credit card companies maintain state-of-the-art fraud detection and identity theft protection software, plus teams of people to help safeguard every transaction.

Furthermore, every credit card transaction makes a digital footprint. You can always track down the movement of your money, which might be crucial if something has gone wrong.

In fact, there may even be programs within your card issuer’s profile that give you added layers of protection, insurance, or guarantees. The bottom line is that scammers may want to steal your money, but they certainly don’t want to tangle with the likes of Visa, MasterCard, or American Express to do it.

How to deposit with credit cards at online casinos

Depositing into an online casino account with a credit card is a fairly straightforward process. However, if you’ve never done it before, here are the steps.

• Double-check that you have plenty of room under your credit limit to make your desired deposit. If you are already pushing against your limit, you may find that your deposit is declined, and you’ll have to look for a different method.
• Verify also that your bank and/or issuing institution accepts deposit requests from online casino apps. Some of them are quite restrictive on this point.
• Even if your bank does accept online casino deposits, be sure to consult how it classifies those transactions. If they are classified as cash advances, you may find yourself on the hook for substantial fees.
• Assuming all is well, log into your online casino account. If you haven’t, make sure to register in the top-right corner of the display.
• Once you have your account set, go to the cashier section. Choose the option to make a deposit.
• Select the credit card option from the list of deposit choices. Be sure that your credit card comes from one of the accepted brands on your app of choice.
• Designate the amount of your deposit, and submit the information.
• You should see your funds appear in your account almost instantly. It’s now time to play.

Withdrawing with a credit card

We must now address the elephant in the room. Most online casinos don’t let you withdraw funds to your credit card.

Instead, you have a few other options. For instance, if you have connected your bank account to your cashier, you might be able to process a withdrawal that way. You may be able to get the online casino to send you an electronic check. Obviously, you can usually go directly to the online casino’s physical location and engage with the cashier cage there.

However, by and large, you are going to find that your most likely option is to receive a paper check through the mail. It’s undoubtedly the most deliberate of options, but it is a tried-and-true method.

There are several reasons why you might choose a credit card to fund your account, to be sure. Unfortunately, the withdrawal problem may be a dealbreaker for you.

So long as you don’t mind a paucity of withdrawal options, though, it may not be as large of a concern. However, most people are used to speed when they transact online, and the deposits move fast enough, anyway.

The Bankside problem

In addition to the difficulties that you’re likely to encounter when you try to withdraw with a credit card, you may have some problems on the deposit side of the transaction. We already alluded to them, but the bottom line is that most banks are not terribly comfortable with their credit cards being used at online casinos.

According to a recent item from US News & World Report, the eight largest credit companies process more than $4 trillion in transactions annually. The eight companies, in order of transaction volume, are:

• Chase
• American Express
• Citi
• Capital One
• Bank of America
• Discover
• U.S. Bank
• Wells Fargo

You are likely going to see your financial institution, or one of them, in that list. They’re all fine companies with stellar track records. However, here is how each one of them feels about online gambling deposits with their credit cards.

• Chase – Classifies online casino purchases as “cash-like transactions” and considers them equivalent to cash advances. Fees on cash advances range from 3% to 10% of the transaction, and the interest rate could be anywhere between 19.49% and 29.99%. You will also be limited on the percentage of your credit limit that you can advance. In some cases, you may only be able to purchase 5% of your credit limit.
• American Express – Online casino deposits are considered cash advances and are subject to the terms of your card’s cash advance fees and rates. AMEX cash advance fees are either $10 or 5% of the deposit amount (whichever figure is greater). Interest rates on these transactions are 21.99% plus the prime rate. Cash advances are aggregated (along with the fees) in your cash advance balance. The cash advance balance is limited to between $3,000 and $10,000, depending on the card you have.
• Citi – Buying casino chips is a “cash-like transaction” and behaves the same way as a cash advance. You will pay the greater of $10 or 5% of the transaction amount as a fee. In addition, the APR on the advance varies but hovers around 29.99%.
• Capital One – Online casino purchases are defined as cash advances and are treated as such. Be prepared to pay $3 or 3% of the transaction—the greater of the two—when you make this kind of purchase. In addition, the interest rates range from 18.74% to 29.74%. There is no defined limit to the percentage of your credit limit that you can use, but the card agreement reserves Capital One’s right to limit the advances as it sees fit.
• Bank of America – Does not permit online gambling deposits.
• Discover – Online casino transactions count as cash advances. As such, they are subject to a per-transaction fee of $10 or 5% of the transaction amount, whichever is greater. You must also expect to pay 29.49% in interest on any cash advance, and this rate varies according to the current prime rate.
• U.S. Bank – Allows users to get “cash equivalent advances.” There is no specific language about casinos or gambling, but it seems quite likely that they would fall into the cash equivalent category. Thus, they are subject to a $10 or 5% (whichever is more) fee on every transaction, and you are on the hook for a 29.99% interest rate for all of your advance.
• Wells Fargo – Does not permit online gambling deposits.

Obviously, other institutions that aren’t on this list may have different approaches to using a credit card. However, it should be clear that you are likely going to encounter some rather onerous requirements if you try to use a credit card to deposit. In some cases, you may not get to use it at all.

Common credit card networks for online casinos

Even though there are hundreds of card issuers, most of them use one of four credit card networks to facilitate their transactions. By and large, these networks are usually how we describe our credit cards, rather than by the names of the issuing financial institutions.

The four major credit card networks in the US are:

• Visa
• MasterCard
• American Express
• Discover

It’s important to know what kind of network your card(s) uses because the acceptance of each network for online casino transactions varies from app to app. For the most part, every single online casino will allow transactions from Visa and MasterCard. In only rare cases will both of these networks—the two largest—be viable.

The other two networks are more hit or miss. Some apps will be happy to accept Discover, but not AMEX. Others will go in the opposite direction. A select few might take all four networks, but don’t count on finding that situation too often.

Online casinos that accept credit cards

Of the top online casinos in the country, here are the credit card networks they accept:

• BetMGM – Visa, MasterCard, American Express
• Caesars – Visa, MasterCard, Discover
• BetRivers – Visa, MasterCard, Discover
• DraftKings – All four networks (via prepaid gift cards)
• FanDuel – Visa, MasterCard, Discover
• Unibet – Visa, MasterCard
• Pokerstars – Visa, MasterCard