MasterCard and Visa processes the payment of illegal gambling sites accused of appreciating UK customers from thousands of pounds.
The investigation has found that the giants fail to stop their networks in making transactions on unlicensed sites despite the previous pledge to do so.
Last week, MasterCard was presented alongside the encoded currency as a way to pay nine web sites targeting UK customers with casino and live sports gaming deals.
The visa was also provided on two of these sites. It is understood that both companies are raised from arrangements, and earning a symbolic fee each time a transaction is made.
The links of card companies in unlicensed sites are revealed in the aftermath of the investigation that it coordinates through an investigation into Europe in a network of gambling sites that operate in parts of Europe despite their ban.
One of the clients said that they left suicide after they lost about 60,000 pounds of unlicensed gambling on an unlicensed site. In another case, a man succeeded in pursuing an operator in German courts after losing more than 200,000 pounds. “Those who run these casinos stole my life,” he said.
The nine websites operating in the UK do not hold gambling licenses, which are required by law, but they appear in the search lists and are promoted on social media. The five most popular sites attracted about four million visits in the United Kingdom between October and December last.
They were accused of failing to pay unwanted gains and messages. FATPIRATE, which announces a welcome reward of up to 425 pounds, was the subject of many complaints that prevented users from withdrawing the money they won. A UK customer claimed that they won 6000 pounds after spending 3,270 pounds with his bank card, but they could not withdraw it.
A customer from other unlicensed sites, Gransino, claimed that their account had been deleted after they complained about their inability to withdraw the gains. When they called support, they were told was the end. They said: “They take your money and never pay,” adding that they were “destroyed.” Both sites were paying MasterCard last week.
Website operators, abroad, did not respond to the suspension requests. MasterCard said that they had a fan of illegal activity on their networks and will achieve. The gambling committee, which is organizing the gambling in Great Britain, said it was aware of the sites and would continue to take action against them.
The results raises questions about the role of the giants in facilitating unlicensed gambling transactions – and about the clear failure of organizers in the processing of sites in the first place.
It is understood that the Gambling Committee has received complaints about at least five of the nine web sites specified in the analysis. But they remained available last week – accepting cards payments from UK clients and offering deals in the pound, including welcoming bonuses of 1,800 pounds and hundreds of free courses.
MasterCard and Visa has agreed to prevent payments related to unlicensed operators, and to enter into a voluntary arrangement alongside PayPal with the 2014 Gambling Committee. Companies are legally obligated to take steps to prevent their networks to be used for criminal activity. but observer I found them facilitating payments for illegal web sites with high traffic, which were publicly linked to alleged fraud, raising questions about the durability of due care.
Separately, complaints records reveal gambling to monitor the scope of the illegal market in Britain – there were at least 922 complaints about unlicensed operators in December, according to documents obtained by Europe under the laws of freedom of information. MasterCard and Visa complaints are mentioned by name. One person indicated that they won about 70,000 pounds on an unlicensed playing site, which allowed transactions with MasterCard but they could not pull a small part of that.
The results were “deeply related.” The former conservative leader said that although most of the damage on the Internet was caused by licensed companies, the organizers “must do more for violations by unlicensed operators.”
He said that MasterCard and marking had risked the lending of unorganized sites. He said: “These companies must raise their game immediately and start preventing all unlicensed gambling site transactions.”
MasterCard said it “does not tolerate the illegal activity” on its network, and when the issues were identified, she investigated it so that he could work with partners to take the appropriate action. “
The company said that it does not have a direct relationship with the gambling sites and that it was returning to banks to ensure that the merchants were acting legally and in line with the rules of MasterCard. This was not commented on nor VISA on the previous agreement with the Gambling Committee to prevent unlicensed gambling transactions.
Visa said that the illegal activity on his network was “unambiguous and unambiguous”. “We take this seriously and check all the reports on illegal activity,” said a spokesman, adding that the company “has no direct relationship with merchants” but it works with partners to end those who sell illegal services, and “constantly invests” in “the best technology in the period” to implement compliance.
during observer Test, payments were made via a payment tool called Paymentiq included in gambling sites. The “Payment Orchestration” is widely used by companies in the sectors at risk to direct transactions through various financial institutions, which increases the opportunity to approve it.
The French payment services company WorldLine, which owns Paymentiq, said it was a “neutral” software solution that had not controlled customer funds or operation payments. “Paymentiq does not bear the responsibility for ensuring that the rules of the planned and partners acquired from the merchant are in their obligations,” said a spokesman for the merchant.
Professor Heather Wardel, a gambling expert at the University of Glasgow, said the results were evidence of the “wide and complex commercial ecosystem” based on unlicensed gambling. “Every actor” in the series should be responsible. “They should not be satisfied with how their actions enable these damages,” she said.
The gambling committee said it is working hard to disable the unlicensed market, including the release of “more than 770 notifications and palm and referring more than 100,000 URLs to Google to remove in the past 11 months. Former CEO Andrew Rhodes, “Phoenixing”, was martyred as a major challenge for the national team – as repeated web sites are created after illegal sites.
A customer spokesman said they can easily verify whether the sites were licensed by searching their website, adding that this gambling on those unlicensed was “endangering themselves.” They said: “Your financial data, harvesting, or abuse can be stolen and you may not be paid even if you win.”
The Bet and Games, the industry reaction group that represents licensed operators, says that gamblers in Great Britain spend more than 2.7 billion pounds on unlicensed sites every year. She said that “the illegal and growing black market” pose a “great threat.”
