Mastercard

From the year 2000 onwards, credit and debits cards were the preferred method of making payments online, closely followed by digital wallet payment methods which have grown in popularity in recent years. Of all payment methods used in connection with online casinos, Mastercard is easily the most popular.

Mastercard and the casino

Because Mastercard back almost all prepayment cards, as well as their ‘own’ cards, they have a clear advantage over their competitors, such as Visa. For those who do not want, or cannot obtain, a credit card or don’t want to use their regular debit cards, the Mastercard prepaid card explosion has been an absolute godsend.

Mastercard has a strong history, starting life

As “Interbank” way back in 1966, the financial service was created by several US banks as direct competition to the Bank of America Card – which later became Visa.

When it is more secure to use a credit card

Where an online casino is trusted, at least trusted enough for you to enter your card details, a credit is often an even more secure option. Where a debit card takes payment directly from your account, and prepaid cards take from the balance held on them, credit cards take funds from a borrowed limit that is repaid over a period of time.

If your card is taken, for instance, or you input your details into a non-secure site (check the address bar for a padlock and ‘https’) then money can very quickly disappear from your account, leaving you in financial difficulty. A Mastercard credit card however creates a ‘buffer’ between you and the money in your bank account. As soon as you spot something wrong, your credit card issuer can take appropriate action – something that takes longer, and is more financially painful with a debit or prepaid card.

Security issues with online payments

Aside from the risk of losing your card, or having it stolen, there are other risks associated with making online payments. As already noted, the security of the site itself is an important factor that needs to be taken into consideration, and it should be remembered that hackers will always attempt to gain access to sites where they know transactions take place.

Secure sites are relatively easy to spot, being marked out by a closed padlock next to the web address, which itself is preceded by ‘https’ rather than the non-secure ‘http’.

Your browser is a storage area for payment details

Payment gateways are often far more secure than the site they reside in – even in the case of secure sites. Of course, measures should still be taken. Where a site asks if you wish for card details to be remembered are not actually storing the details – the user computer is, so securing the computer is also an option to consider.

Always be sure to logout of any website properly, and for extra peace of mind you should consider wiping browser data
also. Mastercard payments are extremely secure, out of necessity, but we can all do our bit in making sure our own payment details are as secure as they can be.