Sports betting: Now ball in credit card companies’ court

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of allowing states to approve sports gambling, many are wondering if major credit card companies will lift their ban on gambling.

As of today, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and American Express don’t allow customers to use their cards to place bets, but things could change.

A spokesperson from American Express told FOX Business that while there aren’t any changes to its policy at this point, the company is “continuing to monitor this space as it evolves.”

That message was similar to JPMorgan Chase’s reaction to the ruling. A spokesperson said it has been closely watching developments and “will consider any implication to our policy as the states put their own processes in place.”

If the move does happen, it could take several months or years because banks will need to revise policies, decisioning tools and merchant classification codes to allow gamblers to place sports bets.

According to Bloomberg, payment processors such as Worldpay, Visa and Mastercard are already in talks with banks on how to change their systems to authorize these types of transactions and devise ways to limit losses when borrowers can’t repay them.