A Mastercard casino is any casino that accepts Mastercard as a payment method for deposits and withdrawals. Since this payment is right at the top of the financial services industry (along with its long-time rival Visa), almost every online casino, US or otherwise, will accept payment via a Mastercard.
Mastercard was created in 1966. It was originally known as “Interbank” and was formed between several existing bank card providers. The corporation has since undergone a few rebrands before finally being named Mastercard in the late 1970s.
These days, it is a vast enterprise. There are an estimated 760 million cards around the world, making it even more popular than its closest rival, Visa.
Types of Mastercard
There are a few types of Mastercard that you might come across. Although there are some important differences between their use, when depositing at an online casino, you’ll find that they behave very similarly to one another.
- Debit Card – A debit card by Mastercard is often issued with a bank account. They can be used to withdraw or spend money from the account. This includes any funds that might be part of a pre-arranged overdraft facility with the bank in question.
- Credit Card – A credit card allows users to pay merchants using credit issued to them by the issuing bank or financial services company. Many credit card issuers use Mastercard.
- Prepay – Often issued as part of an e-wallet service, such as Neteller or Skrill. They are very similar to a debit card only the customer must preload the account with funds. Being as they are not usually issued by banks, users do not normally have their employer pay directly into, or have direct debits coming from, the account associated with a prepay Mastercard.
Why Use a Mastercard Casino?
Advantages:
- Widely Accepted Around the World - Mastercard payments are amongst the most commonly used at online casinos. Thanks to their issuance with bank accounts, their sheer availability makes them a convenient choice to use to gamble on the internet.
- Mastercard is not just popular at casinos though. It’s accepted everywhere. Almost every ATM and POS sales machine on the planet will allow you to use your Mastercard at them. This means that you can cash out your casino winnings to the account associated with your Mastercard and spend them immediately either online or at real-world locations!
- Secure - Being one of the preferred card issuers used by banks around the world, Mastercard spends millions on its security each year. The company deploys cutting-edge customer protection techniques. These include direct partnerships with merchants, zero liability protection, patented ID theft protection, and other cutting-edge microchipping tech to keep users’ funds and details secure.
- Instant Deposits - Certainly, from the player’s point of view, the fact that casinos credit Mastercard deposits immediately is a massive advantage of the platform. Although this is the case with most deposit options, its importance for sheer convenience should not be overlooked.
Disadvantages of using Mastercard at a US casino
Lengthy Withdrawals
Unfortunately, Mastercard withdrawals take quite a bit more time than deposits. The system relies on trust between individual parties. It’s in the casino’s interest to extend trust to the banking institution using Mastercard as its payment network. They obviously want to get the player at the tables as soon as possible. Since banks and services like Mastercard are often pretty reputable, the reward for allowing a player to gamble immediately far outweighs the risk of being left out of pocket should the money never actually arrive.
The problem with this trust relationship is that the bank has absolutely nothing to gain by allowing a user to withdraw funds sent to them by a casino operator. They won’t lose a customer by ensuring that the money actually arrives before authorising its use.
This means that withdrawals via Mastercard and basically any other card provider will usually take a couple of days. For some high-volume players, this can represent a massive inconvenience.
Bank May Block Transactions of US Players
Of course, not every state in the US allows its citizens to gamble online. Although legislation is starting to move in the right direction in some parts of the country, others might find it difficult to use the Mastercard associated with their bank account to make a deposit. For them, an e-wallet solution with Mastercard might be preferable. However, if you do decide to gamble illegally from within the US, you do so at your own risk. We do not condone the illegal use of online casinos!
Getting a Mastercard
Getting a Mastercard to use at an online casino is easy. First off, many banks issue a debit card with most of their accounts. Similarly, credit card companies will also commonly issue Mastercards, as will some e-wallet providers and other prepay services, such as Revolut or TransferWise.
Signing up for one of these services is often enough for them to send you a Mastercard to use the funds you hold with them.
How to Use Mastercard Payments at a US Online Casino
Although each online casino will vary in its precise deposit method, they all try to make it as easy as possible to make a deposit. In fact, you’ll probably be prompted to make one during the signup procedure. If for whatever reason you’re still struggling to make a deposit, reference the following generic steps for guidance. Alternatively, message the casino’s customer support team.
- Find a Mastercard US online casino (there are loads listed on this site).
- Follow the link to the casino’s landing page and register an account.
- After entering your personal details (email, username, password, name, address, date of birth, and others), you might need to confirm your email. To do this, visit your email inbox when prompted and follow the link in the email sent to you by the casino.
- Once you have verified your email, login using the credentials you just set.
- Navigate to the casino’s cashier section. This is often labelled “Deposit”, “Cashier”, “Bank”, or something similar.
- Select Mastercard from the available deposit options and enter the details from your credit, debit, or prepay card. You will need the long number on the front of the card itself, the expiry date, the name of the cardholder, and the last three digits of the security code on the back.
- Provided you have the funds and there are no blocks on your account to stop you transacting with an online casino, you should see your funds arrive immediately.
- Start enjoying the casino’s games!
Conclusion:
Mastercard is easily one of the most popular methods online casino players use to fund their accounts. Whilst the payment network suffers from slower withdrawals than e-wallet services designed especially for online gambling, the security, convenience, and acceptance of Mastercard, makes it more than good enough for all but the most serious casino players.