Maestro as a Payment System in Online Casinos

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Maestro is MasterCard’s multinational debit card service, founded in 1990. Maestro cards are issued by banks associated with the payment system and can be tied to the current account of the cardholder and can also be prepaid cards. The cardholder presents it at the cash point of the outlet and the card is held by a magnetic stripe in the terminal by an employee or customer or inserted into the device for authorization by a chip and a PIN code. The payment procedure is authorized by the card-issuing bank for enough funds on the account to pay for the purchase and the cardholder confirms the transaction by signing the check or entering a 4 or 6-digit PIN code. 

Within the European Union and in certain countries outside of it, Maestro is the main brand of a MasterCard debit card and the equivalent of a debit card signature that does not require electronic authorization, like a Visa Debit card. In most other countries, Maestro is equivalent to VISA Electron and Tertiary MasterCard cards. This requires electronic authorization, like a Solo debit card, that is, in addition to reading information stored in any chip or magnetic stripe, it must be sent by the seller to the issuing bank, and that, in turn, must give authorization approval. If the information is not readable, the issuing bank will reject the transaction regardless of the amount available on the card linked to the card. This is in contrast to other debit and credit cards in which information can be entered manually in the terminal, for example, by entering from 13 to 19 digits of the card number and its validity period and subsequent approval by the issuer or processor.

In terms of deposits in online casinos, the Maestro payment system usually used in European online casinos, bookmakers and poker rooms. You can checklist of online casinos that support Maestro cards. Play in online casino with Maestro card.

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Maestro cards are accepted at the cash offices of approximately 15 million outlets and in most of online casinos, poker rooms and bookmakers.

In the UK, the previous Switch debit cards have changed the brand to Maestro. However, despite the card rebranding, the system itself still remained Switch and its cards were fundamentally their own. In 2011, MasterCard appointed UK Domestic Maestro (the former Switch) as the standard international Maestro enterprise, ending the status of a separate card scheme. This change also caused the discontinuation of the Solo card service. In January 2009, the British banks First Direct and HSBC ceased using Maestro cards, issuing Visa Debit cards to new customers and gradually introducing them to their previous customers during 2009. In September of the same year, the British division of National Australia Bank, being Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank, began the process of replacing Maestro cards with Debit MasterCard on current customer accounts, with the exception of Readycash and student accounts, which continued to use Maestro cards. In addition, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (the largest debit card issuer in Europe, including National Westminster Bank (English) Russian bank brands, Coutts and Ulster Bank) switched from Maestro to Visa Debit, this process took two years to complete the transition. In fact, this means that virtually no British banks will issue Maestro cards, with the exception of Northern Ireland.

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