Launched back in the 1960s, MasterCard was initially a union of the four Californian banks looking to win their share of the market. The service grew to accept thousands of banks around the world, supporting multiple currencies except for any type of digital cash. The headquarters of the MasterCard corporation is in New York.

Despite many thinking that MasterCard is a standalone banking institution, it is rather an intermediary authorized to process payments between your bank and the bank of the merchant. In addition to the MasterCard credit card, the corporation provides plenty of additional services, including its signature debit cards: MasterMoney and Maestro. Both are tied to a bank account and will be able to process online payments with some additional authorization and verification involved.

MasterCard is the most common payment method you will find in any certified online casinos, and understandably so. The product works both ways, allowing players to instantly deposit, as well as to withdraw the wins. For the latter, you will need to allow between one to three workdays for the team of the casino and the bank to process the cashout.

Normally, deposits are free of charge (at least the casino does not charge any fees for depositing), and start from the minimum of 10 EUR/USD/equivalent. For cashouts, up to 1.5% in additional service fees may apply.

To be able to use MasterCard for online gambling, you will need to have an account with any of the partnering banks, as well as the card itself. You will also need to be ready to provide all the information about the card online while paying. Luckily, many banks now offer virtual cards as an additional option and free of charge products to the physical card. They have separate sets of 16-digit numbers and CVVs, and you can top them up with as much as you’d like without worrying that information about the original card may leak in case something goes wrong.

Despite MasterCard’s global access, there are certain countries that will not be able to use it for online gambling. As of 2020, the United Kingdom is among such countries due to GBGC’s decision to halt credit cards for gambling. 

Another major market with limited access to MasterCard gambling is the United States of America. Due to the UIGEA of 2006, banks are authorized to closely monitor and cease payments to offshore online operators. Luckily, there are also quite a few great in-country websites we can recommend.