Online Casino Payment Methods

Online Casino Banking Options

The whole market has changed a lot along with the evolution of the internet and that also revolutionized the way gamblers make online payments or spend money online. A lot of banking operator companies also emerged to meet these gamblers’ needs and nowadays the market offers a huge variety of payment systems, ranging from classical credit debit cards to electronic wallets, mobile wallets, and even cryptocurrencies. 

Each of these companies will strive to provide the fastest, most secure, and most reliable services to attract customers, but just as you can probably guess, some of them remain better than others or at least, fit better certain needs. 

Most Popular Online Casino Payment Methods

There are a couple of things that any gambler who is looking to make casino withdrawals and deposits wants from a payment system and those are: fast and easy transaction and complete safety. Luckily, there is nowadays a plethora of casino banking systems available for players in all regions of the world.  

The only thing a player needs to do is to do his homework and pick the one that’s best for his needs to enjoy a stress-free gambling experience. 

Surely, being so many payment options on the market we can’t mention them in one single article, however, we will take a look at the most popular ones.

Credit/Debit Cards

Credit debit cards are still even after all these decades the most popular casino banking option on the market, preferred by the vast majority of players. 

Only handsful of casinos worldwide don’t include at least a credit or a debit card in their options and that’s usually only because they prefer to specialize around offering another payment system.

The most popular online casinos in this category are Visa casinos and Mastercard gambling sites. Casino deposits and withdrawals done with these credit debit cards are generally fast and the limits for bot withdrawals and deposits are high, making them the preferred banking option by high rollers. 

The main benefits of credit cards are fast transactions, high limits, and wide accessibility, however, there are also a couple of cons. Firstly, these cards can’t be used in countries where gambling is illegal or under the monopoly of the state as all casino transactions can be traced. 

Bank Transfer 

Bank transfers are the oldest casino transaction methods used by gamblers at online casinos. Nowadays this system is not as used anymore because better options appeared and players need to go through a lot of hustle to be able to make bank transfers.

Firstly, your bank account needs to be verified by the casino operator for safety purposes. This way, your banking operator can contact you right away or stop any transaction from the account in case it spots any sort of fraudulent activity. 

Just like credit cards, bank transfers are available at most online casinos around the world with the same only exceptions where the operator is either specialized in another payment system or gambling is illegal in that country. 

A major drawback of this casino transfer option is the long processing time for both deposits and withdrawals. Bank transfer deposits may vary from a couple of hours to a couple of business days and you can expect up to a couple of weeks for a withdrawal to be complete. 

These long time frames are not very convenient for most players and that’s why this option lost a lot of popularity when other payment services could do the same thing but much faster. 

E-Wallets

E-wallets remain just on the second spot in popularity right after credit and debit cards, representing an overall balanced casino banking method. In the online era, payment services like those found at PayPal online casinos, Skrill gambling sites, or Neteller casinos are popular worldwide for fast, secure and private transactions.

Limits are quite high for both deposits and withdrawals pleasing a wide variety of players, however, e-wallets come with two major drawbacks. 

The first one is the fact that you need a dedicated account to use them and for that, you need to enter on one of these providers’ homepage and register an account there.

Secondly, many countries impose a couple of restrictions for these banking methods in terms of promotions and offer so you might not be able to claim all bonuses if you are using an e-wallet.  

Prepaid Cards

Prepaid cards are a relatively new addition compared to the methods mentioned above. In Europe for example the most popular prepaid card is used at Paysafecard casinos and revolves around single-use 16 Digit vouchers. 

These prepaid vouchers have different values and can be bought at local shops or online. You do need to set up a dedicated account just like you do with e-wallets and once you acquire a voucher, you can use its PIN to make casino deposits.

As the main benefit of this option, players get to make fast and completely secure transactions because they don’t have to provide any sort of personal or banking information. In addition, there are no additional fees or taxes required for transfer, however, the limits for both deposits and withdrawals are much smaller compared to other payment systems. 

Cryptocurrencies

As Cryptocurrencies appeared on the market and more vendors and users began using them, casino operators also started accepting them. Today there are plenty of these electronic currencies on the market but few of them are accepted at online casinos like Bitcoin casinos. 

To be able to use cryptocurrencies, you will need a cryptocurrency wallet. The process is very similar to creating an e-wallet account but a little more complex because cryptocurrencies need to be bought from special trading websites. 

Some players avoid cryptocurrencies, precisely due to the complexity of this process and the fact that’s not very beginner-friendly.

As a benefit, all cryptocurrency casino transactions are fast, completely anonymous, and therefore very safe. 

As a bonus, limits are also pretty high for both deposits and withdrawals and there are even a couple of exclusive bonuses for those that use cryptocurrency wallets at online casinos.

Mobile Banking Solutions

Most payment systems nowadays can also be used on mobile devices because let’s face it, smartphones are the future and few people don’t constantly use their phones in many sectors of their day-to-day lives.

However, some of these payment systems have evolved precisely to meet the needs of mobile users. Zimpler casinos and Trustly gambling sites have become very popular recently due to players’ ability to make fast and safe transactions on the go without too much trouble.

Transactions are usually verified through 2FA authentication protocols or Touch ID systems to add even more protection. The main con of these systems is the fact that limits are fairly small compared to other methods. 

How to Make a Deposit at Online Casinos

Now that you got to see the most popular casino banking options on the market, it’s time to see how you can use them to make a casino deposit. Usually, the process is quite simple and takes just a couple of minutes. Without any further ado, here is the simplified process step-by-step. 

1. Log in to your player account at your online casino

2. Navigate in the Cashier section and select your preferred deposit option

3. Enter the amount of cash you wish to deposit and follow the instructions which will vary according to the payment method selected

4. For most casino banking systems, except bank transfers, deposits are either instantaneous or take merely a couple of minutes

You don’t need to take any extra steps when you are using banking options like credit debit cards but for e-wallets, some intermediate systems, and prepaid vouchers, a third-party window will open where you will have to input your dedicated account details.

Out of all the aforementioned ones, cryptocurrencies require the most steps because you need to go to specialized websites to buy the crypto coins and you can’t just fill your electronic wallet with your credit card as you would do with e-wallets. 

The same can be said for prepaid cards because you need to get the vouchers from local stores which is an additional hustle. 

How to Make a Withdrawal at Online Casinos

The withdrawal process is very similar to the casino deposit process for most banking options. The breakdown process is this:

1. Log in to your player account on the casino’s website

2. Go to the cashier section and select your desired withdrawal option 

3. Enter the amount of cash you wish to withdraw

4. Depending on the selected method, a third party window will open or not and the authorization process will vary

5.  After the casino has finished verifying your wins to make sure that nobody cheated and the game did not malfunction, the withdrawal is authorized and you can wait to receive the money

How to Choose the Most Suitable Banking Method 

With so many options available nowadays on the market, many players, especially new ones can get confused. There is no straight answer to which of these payment systems is the best one, because it depends on the country you live in, your budget, and what exactly do you want from your casino banking system.

Here are the main things you need to look for when selecting a deposit or withdrawal method at your online casino.

• Fees - Firstly, even if the casino itself will not charge any fees, some payment systems will have either flat or percentage fees for each transaction. These fees are generally small, between $1 and $3 for flat fees or 0.2% for percentage fees. 

This may not seem much for a high roller, but for a casual player, the amounts of cash lost like this can be meaningful. 

• Withdrawals not available - Not all casino payment options available for deposits will also be available for withdrawals at the same gambling websites. A common example of this is Maestro. 

Even if most casinos offer you the ability to make withdrawals with the same method you picked for a deposit, if this is not available at your particular casino, you are left with no other choice but to select another withdrawal option that may not be your favored one.  

Check this before you register an account with the casino. If you are not able to find this information on their website, just contact customer support and make inquiries about your favored payment option 

• Timeframes - Different payment options will have different timeframes. Even if nowadays those timeframes don’t vary so much as speed is the key to attracting clients, withdrawal timeframes do not depend on the payment provider entirely. 

An operator needs to verify the wins before allowing withdrawals, especially the big ones, and this can add a good couple of working days to the waiting period. 

• Availability - Depending on if gambling is legal or not in your area, the casino banking options available in the region will vary. Credit cards and bank transfers can’t be used in these regions because all banking operators are controlled by the government and they are forbidden to allow transfers from and to online casinos.

Banking Methods Restrictions and Favorite Options

Due to each country’s regulations regarding online gambling and a couple of other factors, there are some casino methods where certain restrictions apply. 

Most of these restrictions revolve around credit cards and bank transfers in countries where gambling is illegal. Casinos that offer services to players in these regions opt often for more private options like e-wallets and cryptocurrencies. 

Also due to the local regulations, some payment methods are restricted to promote responsible gambling and protect players from the ill effects of gambling addiction. For example in 2020 the UK government decided to restrict the usage of credit cards except for lotteries.  

Another similar case occurred in Germany where Visa and Mastercard were completely banned with no expectation. However, few explanations were given on the actual reason. 

Lastly, common restrictions revolve also around bonuses. For example, at many gambling sites, players that use Skrill or Neteller are unable to claim no deposit bonuses. 

This is why it’s very important to check the Terms & Conditions at a casino before registering or opening an account and see if the bonus you are trying to claim doesn’t have any restrictions, precisely on your favorite casino banking option.

Brazilian players also have a preferred method called Boleto Bancario which is a very old company that appeared on the market more than two decades ago that allows players to initiate real-time transitions. However, to use this payment system, you will need a valid tax number. 

Casino Banking Methods Security

One of the main factors that can attract customers towards a certain casino banking option or drive them away is the security of the operations. Luckily, nowadays due to the huge leap in technology, hacking account and making transactions in other names is almost impossible.

Still, to offer security to their customers, these payment system companies, employ a wide variety of safety measures and technologies. 

• Firewalls - Ever since their inventions, Firewalls are the most common and popular type of protection used on every website, especially at online casinos and financial operators. It defines parameters that state what traffic is allowed and which is not on a website. 

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) - This is truly a state-of-the-art protocol that encrypts all sensitive information like personal details and private data exchanged between a customer and an online vendor. This way, no third party can gain access to those pieces of information.

• 2-step Authorization protocols - Most banking systems nowadays use a form of 2FA authorization protocols for all transactions. These protocols can vary from SMS texts sent on your phone with a one-time use security code or emails with a link through which you can confirm the transaction to advanced biometrics and touch-id protocols. 

• Audits and Licenses - Just like casino operators, banking operators, and payment systems providers are licensed and regulated by independent authorities and local or international bodies and have to go through periodical audits to ensure they follow the local laws and standards.

Final thoughts on Casino Banking Options

If you have made the wise choice of gambling online no matter if we are talking about live casino rooms, mobile casinos or simply gambling websites instead of land-based gambling establishments, you are in luck. With so many options available today on the market, your transactions can be hustle-free, fast, and secure.

There is no right answer to which of the multitude of payment methods is the absolute best because the best one is the one that fits most of your needs. 

Depending on your play style and the country you live in, the answer will vary a lot.