[mermaid]

from op:

Why Don't Credit Cards Allow Online Gambling Charges?
The answer to this question has several parts. First, the practice of online gambling is illegal in the U.S., the largest economy in the world. So it is simple common sense that these cards would block such transactions, in the interest of not being prosecuted as aiding illegal activity. But there are other reasons the major credit cards do not want involvement in this business. This is a completely unregulated industry in many places in the world, and great sums of money are involved. There are many shady characters associated with some of the online casinos and so this alone makes Visa and Mastercard nervous.

For instance, what happens when a consumer refuses to pay credit card charges claiming he never gambled online or claiming he was cheated? How would the credit card companies adjudicate these disputes in a scenario involving a small, lawless country with no regulations? In fact, this is exactly what happened before the card companies cut off funding in California, where a woman was charged $80,000 for gambling debts she claimed she did not owe. When the credit card company sued the woman, the court ruled for her, saying she did not have to pay the charges. Then, there is also the issue of money laundering, and how terrorists or mafia types could so easily misuse a type of business where large sums change hand in foreign clime and are repatriated elsewhere, all by wire.