Mastercard and Visa have reaffirmed their strict stance against illegal activities on their payment networks, declaring a “zero tolerance” policy toward the black market.
This statement followed a report by The Guardian, which claimed that both companies were not fully cracking down on transactions linked to the unlicensed gambling market.
According to the report, Mastercard was placed in the same category as cryptocurrencies, which are used as a payment method on numerous unlicensed platforms. However, the company denied these allegations and responded to Payment Expert, stating: “We have zero tolerance for illegal activity on our network. When specific instances of potentially unlawful or illegal activity are identified, we investigate the allegations so that we can work with partners to take the appropriate action. We will now do so with the sites which were noted.”
Regarding Visa, the report was less critical, noting that the company is present on a smaller number of illegal websites but still maintains a presence in the black market. In response, Visa emphasized the effectiveness of its Integrity Risk Programme, a set of rules and requirements for payment partners connecting to the network.
The company stated: “Visa is committed to maintaining the integrity of our payment system. We do not tolerate the use of our network and products for illegal activity, and we are vigilant in our efforts to deter illegal activity on our network.
“The Visa Integrity Risk Programme establishes a set of ecosystem controls, requirements and capabilities that seek to deter, detect and remediate noncompliant transactions across our network.
“This framework helps network participants that support merchants in legal businesses that are at higher risk for illicit activity maintain proper controls and oversight processes to identify and deter unlawful transactions from entering the Visa payment system.”
Thus, the company aims to strengthen its platform’s protection against the black market and ensure regulatory compliance.
Additionally, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has outlined its stance in the fight against the illegal market. A UKGC representative emphasized that the regulator is actively working to crack down on unlicensed operators.
The UKGC stated:“We are aware of these websites and continue to take action to disrupt the unlicensed market, including working with online platforms and with payment providers.
“Since the start of April, our team has issued over 770 cease and desist, and disruption notices – this includes 262 cease-and-desists issued to operators and 205 to advertisers.
“Over that same period, the Commission has referred over 102,000 URLs to Google with 64,000 of these removed by the search engine, and over 260 websites taken down. This is more than a tenfold increase in URL takedowns in comparison to the whole of 2023 to 2024.”
The UKGC also reminded licensed operators of the importance of carefully monitoring their suppliers, who may have ties to the black market.
The regulator stressed that unlicensed sites fail to meet user protection standards and do not implement measures such as the GAMSTOP self-exclusion program, putting vulnerable players at risk.
The Commission noted: “The websites may have inadequate social responsibility and AML controls in place and leave customers open to risks of fraud, data privacy issues and unfair practices. It is therefore imperative that the Commission, in collaboration with the gambling industry and key partners, take all possible steps to mitigate risk to GB consumers.”
The UKGC also uncovered instances where third-party suppliers distributed licensed operators’ games on illegal websites, violating contractual terms. In some cases, the operators themselves failed to exercise due diligence, putting their licenses at risk.
The regulator urged operators to closely monitor their business partners and immediately terminate relationships with those facilitating illegal gambling in the UK.
“It is critical that licensees also actively engage with the Commission where such activity is identified, setting out the preventative measures adopted to ensure such activity ceases immediately,” the group continued.
“Actively notifying the Commission and setting out a clear plan to mitigate the issue at pace is a minimum requirement.”
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