Visa cards are one of the most widely accepted payment methods for depositing to online betting sites. You can also have Visa debit cards, Visa Electron, and many different brands of Visa Gift cards.
UK residents can no lnger use their credit card to make a deposit to an online bookmaker, starting from April 2020.
Visa credit cards for online gambling
This is one of the most widely accepted online paymnet method at gambling sites. It is rare for any bookmaker to not take Visa, and the deposit limits are usually reasonably low.
Unlike Mastercard, it is normally fine to make a withdrawal back to your Visa card too.
All of that makes this one of the better – that is, most successful – depositing methods for gamblers.
However, you probably already know that when you use your credit card, any credit card, to gamble online you are essentially gambling on credit.
That does go directly against the first rule of gambline – “Don’t gamble with money you cannot afford to lose”.
Withdrawing using Visa
You should have no problems withdrawing your winnings back to your Visa card from any online sportsbook.
Even U.S. facing sportsbooks, who historically encounter difficulties when trying to process online gambling transactions, are generally able to offer Visa for both deposits and withdrawals.
Keeping your Visa card secure
In order to use your credit card you will most likely be required to send some identity documents, and possibly specific credit card documents, to the online bookmaker.
You may also be required to send a scan of the physical card that you have used, both front and back. If you are not confortable doing this, then simply don’t do it. You might be better off using a pre-paid Visa debit or gift card to make your deposit. That way, if your details do get compromised, you will have limited exposure to losses.
While it is always good advice to check out your prospective bookmaker before sending your details, any site can get compromised over time. Even just simple human error can cause your data to be exposed to people you would rather did not have access to it. In this regard, using pre-paid cards is definitely a much safer option.
Some online betting sites may also require that you enrol in the Verified by Visa program. If you haven’t used that program already, it is fairly simple to sign up to, and it adds another layer of security for you when using your credit card online for any reason.
Once enrolled in the program the screen above is what you will see when you are making a deposit. If not that one, then you will see a similiar one that asks you to input three specific characters from your passowrd. It is fairly simple and straightforward.
Visa Card Sports Betting and Americans
Those sportsbooks that accept players from the U.S.A. do sometimes offer Visa as a deposit method. As American players know only too well, these deposits can sometimes be declined by the bank.
They do have a much higher acceptance rate than MasterCard though.
If you are trying to deposit to a sportbook with your American Visa card, you should make sure that your card is enabled for international payments; in most cases if it is not the deposit will not go through.
If your card is not international payment enabled, you will need to contact the card issuer to get that resolved.
Should you find that your deposits are still not going through, do not try to repeatedly deposit the same amount. For example, your deposit of $20.00 gets declined by the card company, then you should try to deposit a non-even amount. Instead of $20.00 even you can try, for example, $21.99, which might have a higher chance of being approved, as it does not look like a typical gambling deposit amount.
One other point to note for U.S. players is that the payment channel that you use to deposit to your favorite sportsbook may change from time to time. That means that the name you saw on your credit card statement when you last made a deposit may not be the same name as will show up this time. It can be a little bit scary when you see a charge on your card that you do not recognise, so bear in mind that the sportsbooks do sometimes have to change the company that is accepting the payment as their old details have become flagged as gambling transactions.
This does not apply of course to non USA based bookmakers. UK bookies details should rarely change, and in that case if you see a charge on your card that you do not recognise you should investigate it.
