The announcement was made on March 25, 2026, at a meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. BetMGM’s Chief Compliance Officer, Rhea Loney, stated that starting March 31, new credit cards will no longer be able to be linked to accounts. After that date, the phased removal of already linked cards will begin. The ban applies in all states where the operator is active.
draftkings-and-fanduel”>BetMGM has joined DraftKings and FanDuel
Now, the three largest online gambling operators in the USA have banned credit card deposits.
DraftKings was the first to implement the ban, in August 2025. The company stated that this was a strategic decision and that most customers do not use credit cards anyway. An additional factor was a $450,000 fine from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which prohibits licensed operators from accepting credit card deposits.
FanDuel implemented a similar ban in February 2026. The nationwide ban took effect on March 2. A FanDuel spokesperson said the company evaluated the available payment methods and decided to remove credit cards. The restriction does not apply in Canada.
Fanatics had previously joined them as well. Thus, all four of the market’s largest operators have adopted a unified policy.
Senator Warren and Pressure on Operators
FanDuel’s decision came less than a week after Senator Elizabeth Warren sent letters to major betting operators demanding an explanation for “credit card fee abuses that are hurting American gamblers”.
States are also Imposing Restrictions
Massachusetts is not the only state with such a ban. Similar rules are already in effect in Iowa, Illinois, Oregon, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Vermont.
In other states, lawmakers are moving in the same direction. Bills to ban credit cards for online betting have been introduced in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. The Maryland House of Representatives passed its bill unanimously on March 18, 2026.
Two more states have taken action in recent weeks. The Virginia Legislature approved House Bill 515 and sent it to Governor Abigail Spanberger. In Maine, lawmakers voted to ban credit cards for sports betting and online casinos. The decision now rests with Governor Janet Mills.
Fines and Fraud Schemes
The decision to ban credit cards was announced at the same meeting where the PGCB imposed a $100,000 fine on BetMGM.
Regulators determined that weak identity verification procedures allowed fraudulent groups to open accounts using stolen data and fund them with compromised payment methods. The investigation uncovered four separate fraud schemes. One of them operated for 29 months and used 119 fake accounts to place bets totaling approximately $895,000. Collectively, all four schemes generated over $2 million in illegal wagers. The PGCB classified the violations not as isolated incidents, but as systemic issues in the operator’s control procedures.
This is not BetMGM’s first fine in Pennsylvania. In early 2025, the board approved a separate settlement involving a $260,905 fine for allowing self-excluded players to continue placing bets online. Similar violations were recorded in Ontario and Massachusetts.
What does this mean?
What was a voluntary decision by individual operators a year ago is now becoming an industry standard. The move by major market players to phase out credit cards will accelerate similar decisions in other states and among smaller operators. For regulators, this signals that the industry is ready for uniform standards in the payments sector.
