Online Casinos That Accept Laser Card From Ireland
Irish gamblers have plenty of options open to them when playing at online casinos. Most gambling sites happily accept players from Ireland, and offer a number of different deposit methods. Some casinos even accept the popular Laser Card, a brand only available in Ireland.
The Laser Card is a popular debit card brand that exists entirely within Ireland. The program is run by a consortium of the seven biggest financial institutions in the country, with oversight provided by the Central Bank of Ireland. The cards were first produced in 1996, and by 2010, almost three million people in Ireland held Laser Cards.
Laser Cards are mostly used inside of Ireland, with lesser levels of acceptance in the UK and other European nations. On the other hand, they’re actually rather popularly accepted by online casino sites that target the European market, since the card is so commonly held in Ireland.
But while the card is popular at casino sites, that seems to have been the exception rather than the rule. In recent years, Irish banks have begun phasing out the Laser Card. This process began in the mid-2000s, as customers began complaining that it was difficult to use the Laser Card to make online purchases at most major Internet retailers located outside of Ireland.
The banks responded quickly, and several decided to simply switch over to giving their customers Visa debit cards instead. However, that caused its own set of problems, as customers found that they could no longer receive cash back after making purchases. That problem was fixed in 2018, when the banks began issuing a second round of replacement cards.
Most banks using the Laser Card opted for a less drastic change. Beginning in 2005, many Laser Cards were co-branded with the Maestro logo. This gave the cards a far wider reach, as Maestro debit cards are fairly widely accepted around the world. Beginning in 2008, it became policy for all Laser Cards to carry this branding, thus resolving most of the issues with making purchases using them. Nonetheless, several of the major banks that issued Laser Cards are moving away from doing so, and the long-term future of the brand is in doubt. As of 2018, only Allied Irish Banks still issues Laser Cards to its customers, though older Laser-branded cards are still completely operational. Most other Irish banks have moved on to offering Visa or Maestro debit cards without any mention of the Laser Card system on them.
If you have a Laser Card and would like to use it at an online gambling site, we’ve pointed out several recommendations for sites that accept it. However, even more sites may be available to you, assuming you have one of the Maestro-branded cards. Since Maestro is very widely accepted, you should be able to use your Laser Card at numerous casinos and poker rooms by taking advantage of the dual-branding.
