Opening account for gambling

One of the first issues faced by a person setting up a gambling business is opening an account. It’s impossible to operate without it, because gambling is directly related to transactions with players. In addition, gambling is considered a high-risk activity, so opening an account may not be easy. You can read about how to open an account for gambling project in this article.

Table of Contents:

• Risks of opening a gambling account
• Where is the best place to open a gambling account?
• Procedure of opening gambling account
• The requirements for a merchant account for a gambling project

Risks of opening a gambling account

Gambling is associated with high risks in monetary transactions. Therefore, this business is subject to strict anti-money laundering regulation. This is also associated with the need to adopt AML and KYC policies. You can read about these and other corporate documents of the gambling project in our article. Based on these risks, the accounts from which funds are transferred to the company account must be identified.

The second risk is related to the behavior of the players. They may stop payments by contacting their bank, i.e. make the chargebacks. As a result of this friendly fraud, the gambling system loses. Some providers offer systems that recognize such fraud from players.

Where is the best place to open a gambling account?

The first thing to look at is the jurisdictions where gambling activity is allowed. Some of the most popular countries are Malta, Isle of Man and Curacao, etc. In Curacao, the fastest and most simplified procedure for obtaining a gambling license, while Maltese license provides access to all EU countries. On the best place to get a gaming license, you can read the articles about Malta, Isle of  Man, Curacao.

Once you have decided on the jurisdiction, you can move on to opening an account. It should be opened in the same place where the license was obtained.

Procedure of opening gambling account

Although the procedure will vary from country to country, there are a number of common requirements. You open a business account, but then you must connect a merchant account, as it is very likely that the gambling company will connect acquiring. You can read about how to connect acquiring for gambling activities in our other article. A merchant account is necessary because a legal entity will be accepting payments from various bank cards or online accounts.

In order to open a merchant account you must:

1. Have a registered company in accordance with the law of the country where you want to open an account. When opening an account you need to provide a detailed description. Licenses and certificates may be also required. Some banks may ask for certificates of RNG (Random Number Generator; RNG). You can read about how to get this certificate in another article.
2. The gambling site must be on paid hosting, with all pages belonging to the same domain zone.
3. The account has to be opened in a bank with a processing license, because the merchant account is a part of the acquiring.

The following documents are required to open a merchant account:

1. Corporate papers;
2. Description of the activity;
3. Website address;
4. Information about beneficiaries;
5. Information about refund policy;
6. Privacy and Cookie Policy;
7. AML/KYC-policy.

Requirements for a merchant account for a gambling project

The following criteria must be met in order for the payment component of the process not to be a hindrance to business development:

• Regular payments and their return;
• Possibility to pay by different methods, using both global systems Visa, MasterCard and local (Yandex.Money);
• Prepaid cards that will allow players to make payments not from a bank account;
• Periodic subscription or automatic debit will also make the payment process more convenient for players.
• Separate accounts for company assets and player funds. In the event of bankruptcy, players' funds must be protected, so separate accounts provide more guarantees and are more attractive to players.

Opening gambling account is mandatory step in the creation of a gambling platform. This process includes choosing a bank if the jurisdiction is already chosen. Opening an account, it is important to remember that it will be a merchant account, i.e. you will be able to accept payments from your players. Our team of lawyers will help you choose the most suitable bank and open an account there, considering the operations carried out by the gambling company and in accordance with the law of particular jurisdiction.