MyPokerCard is offering its customers a prepaid credit card that has little to no connections to a person’s bank account. The Gold MasterCard offered by the company – which the site states grants “instant approval” to applicants – allows the player to load up to £500 daily (and a maximum of a £5,000 balance), thus allowing the user to access a variety of online gaming options without the disclosure of pertinent banking information. On the company’s website, it is stated that over 500,000 cards have been issued to customers in the U.K.
While it is billed as “MyPokerCard,” it actually can be used for any online transaction, such as shopping or for travelers to the U.K. The true use for the card is in the internet gaming arena though, as the company has teamed up with an online poker room for a special offer. By joining up with Cool Hand Poker, the MyPokerCard can earn several benefits for the user, including a free MyPokerCard worth £10 (after registering at the site), a cash bonus immediately paid when a new player uses the card for the first time to make a deposit, and a €200 bonus paid out in €10 increments for every 40 bonus points a player earns.
There are several options for loading the MyPokerCard, some quicker than others. According to the company, a player can go to any of the over 12,000 U.K. Postal Office outlets, where a deposit to the card can be completed in minutes. Normal deposits are processed within a day unless the transaction is performed on a Saturday, which can push the posting of the funds to the prepaid MyPokerCard to two days.
The MyPokerCard website also touts the security of the prepaid card and its ability to set limits on gaming activities online. Because it is a prepaid credit card, a player can only use the amount of money that has been deposited on it for online poker or sports betting, instead of having an open-ended credit card with no limits. The MyPokerCard also allows players to have any winnings directly deposited back onto the card, eliminating the burden of carrying huge amounts of cash in public.
MyPokerCard also touts a “fraud protection” feature, which offers security against someone getting unauthorized access to a player’s card or account. If this happens, MyPokerCard will replace the card and the money a player has on it.
In an e-mail conversation, a MyPokerCard spokesman stated that the card could become available soon for worldwide use. “Currently, the MyPokerCard is available for residents of the U.K., but we are looking to expand to the worldwide market,” the spokesman stated. If the MyPokerCard expands its reach to areas outside of the U.K., it could become a useful tool for poker players and online sports bettors to fund their accounts without exposing sensitive financial information.
