PC Points Question

[psilonaut]

Allo everyone,

Been lurking about for a while but this is my first post.

This is a question that I've been running through my head for a while - with the president's choice financial mastercard, you get back 1% of your purchases to spend on groceries etc....

So I figured that I would go down to the local Casino and buy 10k worth of poker chips and then cash them out to pay off my credit card bill - pocketing 100$ worth of groceries.

Turns out that Casino Windsor won't allow poker chips to be bought on credit. I was wondering if anybody here knew of a casino or other institution where you can "buy money" or "buy credit" with a mastercard?

I realize that this sounds a bit sketchy, but if there are any laws or policies preventing this, I'm totally unaware of them and welcome anybody here to enlighten me. :)

[atforum]

When you buy using MC and refund most likely they will refund to your credit card. So there is no use.

[psilonaut]

That's the point of buying an easily soluble medium such as poker chips ->

-I buy 10k worth of chips with credit, earning $100 in points
-I then turn the chips into 10K of money
-I use said 10k worth of money to pay off my credit card debt

[pakmode]

The OP is not talking about getting a refund. He's saying he will pay charge $10,000 on the MC, then use the chips to get his $10,000 back and put that on the MC to accumulate $100 worth of PC Points.

OP -I had a friend who would do that online on a sports betting site, but they stopped that a few months ago. I think he had the Avion card and would put through $10-20K worth of charges a month, bet a little, and then ETF the money from the gambling site to his bank account. Repeat cycle.
Most sites have stopped this because it's safe to assume a fair amount of people were doing this and they caught onto it.

[cba123]

You may want to check the fine print of the most recent cardholder agreement.

A lot of credit cards have begun classifying these near-cash transactions as cash advances. As a cash advance, you earn no points and interest begins immediately.

I recall CIBC Visa including a notice back in the Spring that was effective sometime around now. As a result, I won't be making my deposit to poker sites using my credit card anymore.

[cba123]

OP -I had a friend who would do that online on a sports betting site, but they stopped that a few months ago. I think he had the Avion card and would put through $10-20K worth of charges a month, bet a little, and then ETF the money from the gambling site to his bank account. Repeat cycle.

Only worked when the transactions were in Canadian dollars. You end up losing more than the value of the points/rebate to the f/x conversion from C$ to US$ on the Visa and again on the conversion from US$ to C$ through EFT. And, only if they didn't refund to the credit card up to the value of the initial deposit first, with the rest by EFT.

[SamInfinity]

That's the point of buying an easily soluble medium such as poker chips ->

-I buy 10k worth of chips with credit, earning $100 in points
-I then turn the chips into 10K of money
-I use said 10k worth of money to pay off my credit card debt

I believe you only get points on purchases, not cash advances. Even if you did, the interest charges from the day you draw it will negate and exceed any gain you might have from free groceries.

[psilonaut]

You may want to check the fine print of the most recent cardholder agreement.

A lot of credit cards have begun classifying these near-cash transactions as cash advances. As a cash advance, you earn no points and interest begins immediately.

I recall CIBC Visa including a notice back in the Spring that was effective sometime around now. As a result, I won't be making my deposit to poker sites using my credit card anymore.


The only thing I can find in the agreement that mentions casinos or gaming establishments is a 1% (with a maximum fee of $10) charge on purchases at said establishment


Quote:
Originally Posted by psilonaut View Post
That's the point of buying an easily soluble medium such as poker chips ->

-I buy 10k worth of chips with credit, earning $100 in points
-I then turn the chips into 10K of money
-I use said 10k worth of money to pay off my credit card debt
I believe you only get points on purchases, not cash advances. Even if you did, the interest charges from the day you draw it will negate and exceed any gain you might have from free groceries.


In my example I wouldn't be buying a cash advance - I would be buying poker chips.

[drowsy]

>>I would be buying poker chips.
that counts as a cash advance

[psilonaut]

>>I would be buying poker chips.
that counts as a cash advance

Does it? Could you point me to where it says that? I've gone through the legal papers a few times and the only thing I can find about casinos is this:

"Transaction fee for cash equivalent – a fee of 1% (minimum $2.75, maximum $10.00) will be charged for wire transfers, money orders, travellers cheques, bets and purchases of lottery tickets and casino gaming chips."

[asdfvcx]

Does it? Could you point me to where it says that? I've gone through the legal papers a few times and the only thing I can find about casinos is this:

"Transaction fee for cash equivalent – a fee of 1% (minimum $2.75, maximum $10.00) will be charged for wire transfers, money orders, travellers cheques, bets and purchases of lottery tickets and casino gaming chips."
You're not looking close enough.

Check here (http://www.pcmastercard.ca/ROCEN/cardApp/contentPG/legal.asp?referid=copy#transactionsTreated):
We also consider certain other transactions to be the equivalent of cash advances, and we reserve the right to treat them as cash advances under this Agreement.
In your quote they call casino chips cash equivalents. And in the lower quote they say they may treat equivalents as cash. And I fully expect they will.

[psilonaut]

You're not looking close enough.

Check here (http://www.pcmastercard.ca/ROCEN/cardApp/contentPG/legal.asp?referid=copy#transactionsTreated):

In your quote they call casino chips cash equivalents. And in the lower quote they say they may treat equivalents as cash. And I fully expect they will.

Ahh - good eye, I've run through that agreement several times and managed to over look that statement every time.

Thanks!