Why Mastercard & Visa is a Bad Bet for Indians

Last updated on 22nd June 2021

Published: 09/11/2020

Categories: Bad, Banking options

There are literally hundreds of credit and debit cards casinos you can join as an Indian player.

Online casinos must provide all players with a method to pay with. Since they are global sites accepting players from all across the world, Visa, Mastercard & Maestro cards are usually the most suitable solutions.

But are they good for Indian punters?

Nope, continue to read why.

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Why You Should Not use VISA, Mastercard or Maestro

There is no doubt that credit and debit cards are useful payment solutions to use across online casinos which don’t offer local Indian payment methods.

However, there is one big drawback of playing casino with Mastercard in India.

You don’t know if your transaction will work or not. It’s a 50/50 chance (or even less…) of bouncing your rupees. The State Bank of India has banned credit & debit cards to transfer money to offshore gambling sites. When you try to deposit, your transaction will fail since the system can recognize that its a gambling payment.

Some bank enforces this, some don’t. Hence, it’s a hit-and-miss method and you might have to try several Maestro/Mastercard/VISA before your transaction finally lands on your gaming account. If you are to decide whether to use credit and debit cards or local payment solutions, you better go with the latter.

Additionally, if your bank finds out that you are trying to do illegal deposits or withdrawals you might lose access to your card:

“In the event of non-compliance with this guideline, the cardholder (including the add-on card holder) will be held liable and the cardholder may be debarred from holding the card.”

Financialexpress.com

Additional downsides

If a casino does not have Paytm, UPi, PhonePe, etc. it means they most likely don’t “care” about the Indian audience. Online casinos accepts players from all over the world, but only choose to focus on a market or two. So if you decide to gamble with a Mastercard/Visa you will encounter the following:

  • Slow registration – With credit and debit cards, you’d need to provide all kinds of documents to verify your identity, card data, personal details, and sometimes even bank account details.
  • High fees – Credit and debit cards come with fees, that’s the reality. Depending on the amount of your deposit or withdrawal, you would need to pay 1.5% to 3% fee to transact the money. Add to that the currency conversion and convenience fees, and you’ll see that they’re not that cost-effective for online gambling purposes.
  • Customer Support not acquainted with Indians – When playing at an online casino with credit and debit cards, you probably won’t be able to receive Support in Hindi. You should not expect the agents to be familiar with Indian documents or inquiries, too.
  • Long KYC – Considering they are not focused on Indians, the sites’ teams probably won’t know what an Aadhaar card is. You should not be surprised to if they ask you to provide a different document for identification.

Instead, Cashup Club recommends you to go for an online casino that accepts Indian payment methods instead. We have written guides where your transaction success rate is 100%. For example, the majority of the casinos at Cashup accepts Paytm deposits without any fees and hassle.

Is There Any Card Which is Worse?

Different debit cards

There is no exact answer to whether Visa is better than Mastercard, or any other provider.

The success rate of your transaction to land on your gaming account is in the hands of the issuing bank. For example, we know you cannot use any type of card from Canara banks, since they have blocked gambling transactions.

You simply have to try several casinos, or swap payment method to one we recommend instead.

Fees & Currency Conversion

Card

Fee

VISA & MasterCard Credit Card

2.0% to 2.5%

VISA & MasterCard Debit Card

1.25%

American Express

3%

Maestro

Rs. 8 - 20

To Indian billers, convenience fees may also apply, as well as currency conversion fees. These are all reasonable fees, but they do apply, so you need to consider them before deciding to use a card.

You should not expect to have fee-free transactions like with local payment methods such as Paytm, UPI, G-Pay. In fact, we have more than 5 casinos accepting UPi at Cashup.

Which card has the best success rate?

If you still want to proceed with a debit or credit card casino, it doesn’t matter if you are trying to use a Maestro, HDFC Freedom Credit Card, Citi Cashback Card or whatever card provider.

It will most likely not work. But it doesn’t harm to give it a chance, please contact us with the bank and card provider (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Maestro) you used.

Instead, we recommend you to pair your card with a mobile wallet instead.

Summary

If you’re okay with the downsides of using your Maestro or Mastercard, and the casino website you intended to join does not offer local Indian methods, you can at least be certain that your funds would be safe and highly secured – transactions with cards are bomb-safe.

But that the only upside you’ll get. Since the casino is not interested in taking payments from India, they will not offer a good gaming experience for the Indian crowd.

If you are interested in investing in websites exclusively for the Indian audience, check Cashups list of Indian casinos for real money.