MasterCard is a giant on the credit card industry, right alongside Visa. It is characterized as a "multi-national financial service corporation" that is involved in acting as a conduit for processing transactions between the merchants who accept it and the financial institutions connected to the issued cards.
At one time it was owned by a cooperative of financial institutions and was known as MasterCharge. It was actually established as a response to the credit card pioneer BankAmericard, which later became Visa. In 1979, the name change to MasterCard took place.
For purposes of our discussion, MasterCard is one of the solutions that are most popular among players who open up an online casino account. It is fast, convenient and secure.
It is very rare to find an online casino that accepts Visa that does not accept MasterCard, and vice versa. Essentially, the two go hand-in-hand. They work basically the same. They are methods of payment that one would use, and in the vast majority of places where casino customers might reside, they are issued by a bank. This comes either in the form of a credit card, in which the customer is issued a line of credit, or a debit card, which is directly connected to a bank balance. Maestro is a debit card issued by MasterCard Worldwide that is available in many parts of the world.
When you visit a casino and you want to open up an account, you may choose MasterCard as your preferred method of payment, in which case you will be taken to a secure page to enter your credit card details, which include the account number and your identification number. While there are certainly security protocols in place that are similar to those of a bank itself, there may be some people who are somewhat uncomfortable in giving these details over to an online casino.
That's why many people also elect to fund their accounts using MasterCard in a different way, offering perhaps more confidentiality, as it is done through the use of electronic wallets. What happens there is that the online casino account holder will open up an e-wallet membership, and the funds from the credit card or debit card can be routed through that avenue.
Canadian players need not worry about being able to use MasterCard as a payment method to open a real money account at an online casino. That is not the case in the United States, however; online casinos are assigned a certain merchant code, and transactions associated with that merchant code are not permitted by U.S. banks.
It should be noted that when it comes to its use as a withdrawal method, MasterCard can be used in certain places; All Jackpots, Platinum Play, Spin Palace and InterCasino are some of them. However, it is not available as a withdrawal option nearly as much as Visa. In case where you cannot withdraw to MasterCard, you will most likely receive a cheque or bank transfer.
That may impact the casino you choose and it may not. But chances are that if you only have a MasterCard, there is a way you can facilitate opening up a casino gaming account online that will make you feel comfortable with security and execute transactions seamlessly.