Visa exclusivity agreement forces the closure of 27 ATMs at the London Olympics
If you're heading to the London Olympics this summer, you might want to make sure you have cash ahead of time — thanks to Visa's exclusive sponsor status, 27 ATMs at the nine various Olympics venues around London will be shut down. In their place will be eight Visa ATMs that won't work with Mastercard or other card providers. Of course, almost 97 percent of debit cards in use in the UK are Visa cards, but the reduction in available machines is an inconvenience no matter how you slice it. That's without mentioning the many foreign tourists who might not be as Visa-heavy as the UK populace. At least the machines won't charge a fee to users, like many of the machines being replaced. London's Payment Council (in charge of UK payment services) didn't offer much in the way of support for consumers, saying that "it really is a matter for Locog [the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games]. It's up to them what they do with regard to sponsors." The major reduction of available ATMs means even Visa customers won't be too happy when trying to get their money at the Olympics.

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