Payment provider contracts: what gambling operators should check

A payment contract decides when an operator gets its money, how much the provider can hold back, who pays if a card scheme fines someone, and how quickly the provider can walk away. For gambling, where providers treat the sector as high risk, these terms deserve a line-by-line read.

By Clera Dukuk · Published 24 October 2026

Coverage

General checklist; not legal advice

Sources checked

24 October 2026

Next review

24 April 2027

This checklist is general research, not legal advice. Have a qualified lawyer review any agreement before signing.

Parties and services

• Which legal entity provides each service (gateway, acquiring, payouts, open banking)? It should match the entity you checked on the regulator's register; see our due diligence guide.
• Which markets, currencies and payment methods are covered, and is gambling named explicitly as an accepted activity?

Money terms

• Settlement schedule. How many days after a transaction you are paid, cut-off times, and whether weekends and holidays count.
• Reserves. Rolling or fixed reserves: the percentage, how long funds are held, triggers for increases and the release schedule.
• Fees. Transaction, scheme, cross-border, currency conversion, refund, payout and chargeback fees, and how changes are notified.
• Netting. Whether fees, chargebacks and reserves are deducted from settlement, and how each appears in reports.

Card scheme terms

Visa classes gambling (MCC 7995) as a high integrity risk category requiring registration, and Mastercard's security rules include a registration section for non-face-to-face gambling merchants and a Business Risk Assessment and Mitigation programme. Contracts usually let the provider pass scheme fines and assessments to the merchant. Check:

• who completes and pays for scheme registration;
• when a scheme fine can be passed on, what evidence the provider must give, and whether you can contest it;
• dispute ratio thresholds and what happens if you exceed them.

Regulatory cooperation

• The provider's commitment to support your licence conditions, for example blocking credit cards where required (Great Britain's condition 6.1.2) and using only regulated payment services (condition 5.1.2).
• Correct merchant coding and stable descriptors; Visa bars dynamic descriptors for gambling merchants.
• Access to transaction data for regulators, auditors and AML investigations, and data retention periods.
• Notice of changes to the provider's own regulatory status.

Suspension and termination

• Grounds and notice periods for suspension or termination, including changes in the provider's risk appetite for gambling.
• What happens to reserves and pending settlements on termination, and the deadline for releasing them.
• Exit assistance: data export, token migration for stored cards, and continued payouts to players during a transition.

Service levels and reporting

• Uptime commitments, incident notification times and service credits.
• Report formats and delivery times that allow daily reconciliation; see our reconciliation guide.

Questions about payment provider contracts