FanDuel To Stop Accepting Credit Card Payments
The company joins Fanatics and DraftKings in refusing to take deposits from plastic, which is banned in eight states
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FanDuel has become the latest operator, joining DraftKings, Betr, and Fanatics, to disallow credit cards from being used on the site. The ban goes into effect March 2, according to a notice on the app.
Fanatics has never accepted credit cards for deposits and DraftKings ceased to do so last August.
“Over the last few months, FanDuel has been evaluating the payment methods that we offer to customers and made the decision to remove credit cards as an option for our sportsbook, casino, and racing product in the United States,” a FanDuel spokesman told Casino Reports. “This change was made to improve the deposit experience for our customers.”
Good, but let’s not kid ourselves
FanDuel’s decision was met with muted response from some in the responsible-gambling community.
“It’s overall good that Fanduel is getting rid of credit card deposits and shows how the industry can take the lead on some reforms,” said Isaac Rose-Berman, a gambling and research policy fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men. “But the evidence is pretty clear that removing credit card deposits doesn’t do much, so anyone touting this as likely to protect tons of problem gamblers is either misinformed or intentionally misleading.”
Rose-Berman also pointed out the costs involved. “It’s also important to not forget that processing credit card deposits is expensive and annoying for operators, which is surely one of the main reasons they’re in favor of banning credit cards, not just for RG purposes.”
When DraftKings stopped accepting credit cards last summer, the company had similar things to say as FanDuel.
“DraftKings has made the strategic business decision to remove credit cards as a deposit option for sportsbook and casino in the United States,” a DraftKings spokesperson told InGame at the time. “Customers can still fund their DraftKings Sportsbook and casino accounts using debit cards, bank transfers (ACH), wire transfer, and payment platforms like PayPal, Venmo or Apple Pay (with an eligible payment method, such as a debit card), where permissible.”
DraftKings’ decision to ban credit cards came on the heels of Massachusetts walloping the company with a $450,000 fine for allowing credit card deposits in the commonwealth. Along with Massachusetts, a handful of states, including Tennessee, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Illinois and Vermont, have laws on the books banning credit card deposits.
