Contrary to common belief Visa and Mastercard are more than happy to provide payment processing services to the online pornography industry. It is Internet gambling that they have attempted to shut down entirely. The purported reason is that gamblers go into credit debt and are then unable to repay - leaving the credit card companies holding the bag (for credit they should not have given to begin with). Another speculation is that the mafia-controlled onshore gambling business in the United States has enoug clout to encourage Visa to shut off the money supply for their offshore competition.