Regulator looks at credit card gambling ban

GAMBLING on credit cards could be banned under plans being considered by the Gambling Commission.

The regulator’s report on how to make online gambling safer comes amid concerns that using credit cards increased the risk that people would gamble more than they could afford.

The commission said it would explore whether such a move would steer gamblers towards using payday loans before taking action. The use of credit cards on gambling websites is treated as a cash advance. As such, it is subject to a transaction fee and a high rate of interest.

The report says it is “hard to envisage why consumers would choose to pay in that way, unless it was to gamble with money not otherwise available to them”.

Other proposals include banning operators from providing free-to-play demo games until a consumer’s age has been determined, improving the speed and effectiveness of age verification processes and ensuring operators set limits on consumers’ spending until affordability checks have been done.

Statistics show profits from the sector grew 10 per cent to £4.7billion in the last year, and public participation increased from 15.5 per cent in 2014 to 18.3 per cent in 2017. It is estimated that nine million people across Britain gamble online.