This is one of the most annoying factors when it comes to online gambling websites.  For some reason, 9 times out of 10, when you try your credit card it’s declined.  If it’s a debit card, it could be linked to an account with millions of dollars or a credit card with a limit that you could never imagine being able to spend!  Regardless, it’s declined.  Now what?

First, it’s important to understand WHY it’s declined because it has nothing to do with you or your financial situation.  I mean assuming that you’re not trying to use a maxed out credit card or a debit linked to an overdrawn account. ?

Banks don’t like online gambling websites.  It’s as simple as that.  There is too much risk involved.  Personally, I think that’s crazy because if they knew me (or most of my girlfriends) then the same rule should apply to any shoe store. However, we’re familiar with the many wonders of society, so this shouldn’t really faze us much.   Is it infringing on our personal freedoms? Hell yeah.  Am I going to call for an online gambling revolution? No. Not quite yet.

The good news is that online casinos are really accommodating because it annoys them about 1000 times more than it annoys us.  (We can leave the revolution thing to them…) That’s why they offer normally about 10 to 20 alternative ways to deposit money into your casino account.  You can use methods that work with your credit card (sort of like a loophole because the banks don’t block those companies) or you can use companies that can access your checking account, you can also wire money.  And there are usually 2 or 3 of each type to choose from.  Since some of them charge nominal fees, the online gambling site will offset that with a bonus for using one of these deposit methods.  The bonus is usually 2 to 3 times the cost, I guess they factor in the whole “inconvenience” thing.

So point is, if you card declines, relax.  It’s normal, it’ll take you about 5 minutes to fix it, the casino will make a big deal of it and give you even more bonus money so in no time you’ll be playing with more than you had originally budgeted.

Too bad it doesn’t work the same way for shoes.