'High risk' merchant account help

[Dan7.]

Hi all,

I am hoping someone is able to help, I am looking for a Merchant account provider- at the moment I have been decline because I believe some of the large banks don’t understand what we intend to do, therefore I believe perhaps a ‘high risk’ provider may be able to help.

I will give you a brief summary below, perhaps you know a provider that can help- thanks in advance!

At the moment I organise and manage a lottery syndicate at work, your typical workplace syndicate where I collect payments in cash and run it as expected.

This gave me the idea to take it online, I therefore started a company to allow us to do this, the intention is to allow players to sign up and pay for their membership online via a recurring/subscription payment- pretty simple right? The syndicates/company is structured according to laws and guidelines set out by the gambling commission etc.

However at the moment we are having issues because of the word lottery- providers fail to see that it is not a lottery/betting activity. I have gone to a leading law firm in the gambling field, they have provided their independent opinion about our company and syndicates and have stated that we would not require a gambling license as there is no promotion of a lottery/ running of a lottery/or purchasing tickets on behalf of a user. (The opinion goes into far more detail than this).

Although only a brief explanation, I am wondering if anyone would know a provider who is able to provide us with a merchant account?

 

[arnydnxluk]

Have you looked at Stripe? I have no idea if they will accept you, however you mentioned talking with large banks previously which is probably always going to be more difficult.

 

[Dan7.]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the suggestion, I have previously looked into stripe, they have a rule of no gambling and although this isn't a gambling operation they have said no! It's a shame as it looked like a really good platform!

Dan

 

[MattCollins]

Hi Dan,

Not sure if it would make sense for you, but have you looked at using an off-the-shelf tool to help you manage things and take payments? I haven't used it, but came across this, for example.

Matt

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Could the issue not be the fact it is 'lottery' related but the fact you are buying tickets on behalf of someone else, therefore being seen in the eyes of the acquiring banks as acting as a 3rd party ?

 

[TODonnell]

Gambling-related businesses are poison to credit-card processors; too many chargebacks and fraud, I think. Online gambling is illegal in the US, I think(?), or there are restrictive laws. There's also the moral issue.

'High-risk' or 'Adult' merchant account providers are where you need to look, and probably outside the UK. It's been a long time since I looked at such things, in the infancy of the internet.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

@Quadrapay the last post on this thread was in April 2016. Just a heads up in case you weren't aware that you were reviving something long gone and most likely no longer relevant as far as the OP is concerned...

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Thanks for the update. Will keep it in mind.

You've just done it again on another thread where the last post was Jan 2016!