GAMBLERS who hold American Express and Citigroup credit cards have been barred from using them in online casinos to protect other customers from debt, fraud and money laundering.

The ban, which applies to millions of customers in Britain, is the first time that any credit card organisations have imposed such restrictions.

Others banks are watching the results closely and some are expected to follow suit.

Both companies said last night that they had no plans to alter their policy, despite the publication on Thursday of the Government’s Gambling Bill, which will regulate online gambling in Britain.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey told The Times that credit card transactions with British online gambling companies would be safe once they had been brought under the scrutiny of the Gambling Commission.

“I would not hand over my credit card to a foreign site now, but once British sites are regulated I would not have the same qualms,” he said on the day that the Bill was launched.

However, the banking industry appears not to share his certainty, and these two companies are the first to have taken steps to regulate themselves by restricting their customers’ choices. Citigroup said that it introduced the ban, which came into force at the start of September, after a similar move by Citibank in the United States, where online gambling is banned altogether. Customers who try to use their Citibank card on a gambling internet site will find the payment automatically declined.

American Express has had a blanket policy since 2000 that it will not deal with online casinos, or internet pornography providers, so users will never be given the option of using their card to pay for transactions.

A spokesman said: “We introduced this nearly four years ago because of the high instances of disputed transactions and fraudulent charges. It is a worldwide policy and we do not expect an imminent change.”

The news will be an irritation to the Government as it appears to cast doubts about the credibility of the Gambling Bill’s wide-ranging powers of protection.

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