Olympic partner Visa has required Olympic venues to accept only Visa credit cards to pay for drinks, food and goodies. If you don’t have a Visa card, you can generate one on your smartphone for free.
It’s hard to miss as it’s displayed in large letters on all the posters for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Visa is a partner very invested in the competition. But did you know that he imposed an unusual rule in France on all payment terminals present on Olympic sites? In practice, during an Olympic Games event, you can only pay with a Visa.
The bank card giant has supplied 4,500 payment terminals to shops, refreshment stands and other restaurants which will serve as supplies for the many spectators expected in Paris for the competition. This means that if you have a Mastercard, you will not be able to pay with it at Olympic venues.In France, there are around 23 million Mastercard bank cards compared to 47 million Visa cards: this should therefore only be a problem for less than one in three French people. Worldwide, Visa holds 57% of the market compared to 43% for Mastercard.which means that just under one in two tourists will have a problem paying at an Olympic venue.
If your credit card doesn’t work at an Olympic venue, it’s probably because you have a Mastercard. We tested a Mastercard at the Nantes stadium on July 24, 2024, and the result was clear: Mastercards were rejected instantly. The saleswoman who ran the refreshment bar kept telling surprised customers that Mastercards were not accepted. For its part, Visa made a communication effort by putting up posters everywhere to warn passers-by.
How to pay for the 2024 Olympics without Visa?
When it comes to eating at Olympic venues or buying ugly goodies, there are several options available to you.
Generate a temporary Apple Pay / Samsung Pay / Google Pay Visa card
No Visa, but an iPhone or Android smartphone that allows contactless payments? No problem! You can generate a Visa Go card in just a few minutes, and for free.
- Download l’application Visa Go on iOS or on android.
- Enter your name, first name and email,
- Generate the prepaid Visa card,
- Add the card to your Apple Wallet or Google/Samsung Wallet,
- Add money to the Visa Go card.
And there you have it, it’s done, you now have a Visa card in your pocket. Note that it will not be able to can only be recharged by €150 every 30 days. In other words, if you exceed the amount, you will have to generate a new card by repeating the process.
Get a prepaid Visa Go card
If you don’t have a compatible smartphone, Visa has planned to provide physical cards, available at Olympic venues at Visa ATMs. You can load these prepaid cards with your bank card, but be aware that they will have the same limits: only €150 on a card, which then becomes a piece of plastic to throw away. Not very eco-friendly.
Pay in cash
Obviously, there will be loads of ATMs installed at the Olympic venues to withdraw cash. With the €150 limit on prepaid cards, if you are going to see several events with your family, we think that this archaic option is perhaps the simplest.
Source: www.numerama.com
