Boylesports Don't Accept Visa Electron Cards

[ordinarysunday]

I'm not really sure what the point of posting this was, I was just a bit amazed to be honest.

As far as I know a high percentage of the population own visa electron cards, or solo cards. The dangers of these cards for bookmakers is that they are the only cards (I believe) that are issued to under 18's, so you have to carry out ID checks etc when you want to use one - which is fair enough really. Once you do it once you just save the relevant documents and then just attach them whenever you open a new account etc.

Boylesports I thought were one of the sort of ''up and coming'' on line bookmakers around at the moment, it seems really strange why they would cut off so much potential income by not accepting these cards, I really can't think there could be a logical reason - is anyone aware of a major problem with these cards?

Just to verify, here was my live chat with Boylesports..

operator: Hello, Welcome to Boylesports live help. How may I assist you?
me: morning, I am trying to register a card, and the card number is not being recognised, I wouldnt know why to be honest.
operator: Is it a visa solo or electron card?
me: visa electron
operator: Unfortunately these do not work on our system so we can not accept them
me: wow, that's a strange one, ok mate nevermind, thanks for your help anyway.

[friskyfitz]

Perhaps its simply because that up until recently - Boylesports was nearly 100% Irish and they didnt have a big online or UK market. Visa Electron and Solo never worked in shops or pubs here for that matter until recently. They probably are overdue an upgrade but that will come in time.

[friskyfitz]

Of course, the reverse is true too. Irish Laser/Maestro cards dont generally work on UK sites either. Betfair are one of the few to accept them but thats probably has more to do with Betfair having a fairly big set up in Ireland

[ordinarysunday]

Cheers for the explanation, that makes sense.

It would suggest then that maybe this is something they cannot implement at this time, as I would imagine that the majority of 18-21 year olds would own these cards - that's a massive part of the market to be missing out on.

I was more concerned that there may have been something new recently brought in regarding these cards that meant other bookmakers might stop taking them - it would appear that is not the case.

I imagine it will be sorted sooner rather than later, it's hardly the end of the world either as I can just place my bet somewhere else, I was only after the free £50 bet to be totally honest - so maybe this was my punishment for scratching around for free bets

[Paul Ross]

I'll ask if they plan to introduce them for you.

[abookiesworstnightmare]

Just a FYI, They used to accept Electron and Solo a while ago. I opened my account on an Electron and used it many times then one day I went to use it and they stopped taking it so I had to switch to Visa Credit. They offered no explanation at the time.

[ordinarysunday]

Cheers for the help Paul, and the other comments etc.

I have since managed to scratch a free bet (I hope) from another reasonably reputable bookie who I hadn't yet opened an account with, as I said it was more of a surprise than an inconvenience to me really.

I just found it very strange to be honest, ABWN just confirms my confusion, but anyway, cheers.

[friskyfitz]

Im sure Paul has probably got the "Proper" answer but has been too busy to see the thread and forgot