Skill gaming platforms, prize competitions and prize draws can take card payments when they are matched with a provider whose policy covers them. Mainstream processors often ban paid entry for prizes, but specialist acquirers board operators with a sound legal basis. What decides the outcome is a clear legal opinion on why your product is not gambling, a real free entry route where one is needed and strong age checks.
In Great Britain, a prize competition that genuinely depends on skill, knowledge or judgement falls outside the Gambling Act 2005, and so does a prize draw with a free entry route. A product that relies on chance and requires payment to enter can be an unlicensed lottery. Acquirers usually ask for a written legal opinion that covers your mechanics in each market you serve.
The Gambling Act expects a skill element that prevents a significant proportion of people from winning, or a significant proportion of entrants from entering. A question that almost anyone can answer does not meet that test. Underwriters look at the questions, the pass rate and how entries are checked.
In November 2025 the government announced a voluntary code for prize draw operators. It covers a sufficiently publicised free entry route, age verification for players over 18, a monthly cap of £250 on entries paid by credit card and a ban on credit cards for instant-win games. It was signed by 23 operators. Acquirers serving UK draws increasingly expect operators to follow it even where they have not signed it.
In the US, sweepstakes and skill gaming are regulated state by state. California's ban on online sweepstakes casinos took effect on 1 January 2026, and several other states passed similar bans during 2025. Acquirers will want to know which states you accept players from and how you geoblock the rest.
Expect to show age verification for every player, identity checks before prizes are paid out, and controls against multiple accounts. Prize payouts are a fraud target, so a documented KYC process before withdrawals is part of most applications.
Publish full terms, the number of tickets or entries, the closing date, how winners are chosen and verified, and the free entry route with the same prominence as paid entry. Clear terms reduce complaints and chargebacks and are among the first things an underwriter reads.
Provider suitability differs from business to business: two companies in the same industry can receive opposite answers because of licence, market mix, ticket size or dispute history. We do not state that a provider accepts an industry unless that provider has confirmed it, and no one can guarantee approval.
Provider fit in Skill Games and Prize Competitions depends on more than the industry itself: licence, markets, volume and dispute history all change the answer. Answer a few quick questions to start checking your own situation.
Industry, company country and estimated monthly volume, that is all we need to begin.
Yes. Prize competitions and skill gaming platforms process cards through acquirers whose policy covers them, once the operator has shown a sound legal basis for each market. Approval and final terms are always the provider's decision.
Not automatically, but providers treat them as high risk. Visa places card-absent games of skill under MCC 5816 in Tier 2 of its Integrity Risk Program, and Mastercard requires skill games merchants to be registered. Whether a product is gambling under the law is a separate question that depends on its design and market.
It can be. Under the Gambling Act 2005, a competition that genuinely depends on skill, knowledge or judgement is not gambling, and a prize draw with a free entry route is not a lottery. A product that relies on chance and requires payment to enter can be an illegal lottery. Take legal advice on your mechanics.
A voluntary code announced in November 2025. It covers a sufficiently publicised free entry route, age verification for players over 18, a £250 monthly cap on credit card entries and a ban on credit cards for instant-win games. It was signed by 23 operators.
Stripe's restricted business list for the UK, updated September 2026, prohibits games of skill with a monetary or material prize, entry fees that promise a prize, and lotteries. Check Stripe's current list for your own country.
Some can, depending on the model and the states served. Several states have banned online sweepstakes casinos, including California from 1 January 2026, so acquirers look closely at mechanics, legal opinions and geoblocking before boarding.
Common reasons are that the category was not declared at signup, a skill question that is too easy, a free entry route that is hard to find, missing age checks and complaints or chargebacks from players who did not understand the terms.
You describe your mechanics, legal basis, markets, age checks, volumes and processing history once in our online application. Your profile is matched with a payment provider whose policy accepts operators like yours, and your account is prepared with that provider so you can start processing. It is free for merchants, and nothing is shared with a provider until you submit. Approval and final terms are always the provider's decision.
An iGaming payment solution is the combination of acquirer, PSP or gateway, local payment methods and payout rails that lets an operator take deposits and pay out winnings. Which of those will work for you is decided almost entirely by licensing and player geography: a provider that boards a Curaçao-licensed casino is rarely the same one that boards a UKGC-licensed brand, so the first step is matching your licence and markets to an acquirer's gambling programme.
Trading platforms are underwritten on regulatory status and client geography. A regulated brokerage in a recognised jurisdiction has a materially different provider pool than an offshore entity taking retail clients worldwide.
Crypto acceptance depends on what the customer receives. On-ramps selling digital assets, custodial exchanges and crypto-adjacent SaaS are underwritten as three different risk profiles.
Add your business essentials once. Your profile is compared against provider criteria, and nothing is sent until you submit your onboarding pack.
Check my payment optionsNothing is shared with a provider until you submit your onboarding pack. Approval is always the provider's decision.
