Casino Banking
Casino Banking Guide
What’s a casino without a bank? It might be an entertaining enough site, but most online gamblers want to play for real money and make an online casino deposit. And this is where the term “online casino banking” comes from.
For years, this simple equation kept effective gambling offline. But now many of us do most of our spending online, and gambling is no different. More and more gamblers play online only, whether that be sports betting, slots, or online casino games that mimic the most popular casino table games. To do so, they need a safe way of transferring their money to a casino. And they also need a speedy way of collecting any money that is due to them.
Thankfully, as this guide will show, there are now a large number of safe and speedy ways of getting money to a casino and into your account, and from a slot spin into your bank. We make it a habit to be cautious, and to teach our readers to be cautious, so there will also be a fair number of safety warnings here – anyone who doesn’t take care of their money and data security online is looking for trouble!
Online Casinos that accept:
Safe and Legal Casino Banking
We’ll start in the safety area because we believe it is the most important advice we can give you. You must never play at a casino which is not licensed in the jurisdiction that you are using it in, and you must never play at a casino that you are not legally entitled to play at. This means that as well as a site being good quality and legal, you should not try to get around age restrictions or geographic rules. You may be able to play, but you might not get paid, and you might find yourself losing everything because you haven’t played by the rules.
We’re covering all of Europe here. Gambling is generally legal in Europe. There aren’t EU-wide rules on gambling and licensing, but there are no data protection, so if you’re in the EU you should see that those rules (called the GDPR) are obeyed. Licensing can be done by individual countries, or it can be international. Countries like Malta, Cyprus, and some islands in the West Indies have made a speciality out of licensing international gambling sites. That doesn’t mean they’re not doing a good job, but wherever a licence is said to be, you should check that it actually exists and that you’re happy with the rules that it specifies.
Most sites are perfectly safe for you to use, but scams are not unheard of, so look for good quality sites, open information, licensing and safe gambling information, and reviews and forum postings that back up the quality of a site.
Online Casino Banking Methods
A good choice of casino payment methods is another good way to spot that a site you want to play at is good quality. (Most) Online payment wallets and (most) banks don’t want to get caught up in fraud and money laundering, so the fact that they partner with sites is a good sign. As with licensing you should check that these partnerships are more substantial than a logo on a web page. As you are paying in make sure you are in a secure environment and that the sites you are referred to are genuine. Use the best security protocols to set your passwords and to safeguard them.
Let’s take a look at the most common casino payment methods. This is a fast-moving area and innovation is going on all the time, so it is not possible to provide a completely comprehensive guide to all the casino payment methods available. Keep coming back though because we keep our eye on the news and we keep checking every new product.
Here are some of the current crop:
Credit cards
Credit cards are a slightly controversial way to cash up your casino account and they are not accepted by all sites. This isn’t because the cards are dodgy, but because it’s not a great idea to gamble with money that you don’t yet have. That’s essentially what credit cards allow you to do. So, by all means, use them – MasterCard, Visa, American Express (a charge card) – but be careful about how you do so. We’re not here to lecture you on financial management but don’t end up paying big interest fees on the money you’ve lost at a casino, that would be a double loss!
Payments can usually be accepted instantly, and withdrawals to your credit card balance often take between one and five days.
Debit cards
Debit cards, which like credit cards offer instant credits to your account, and usually, payments in between one and five days, are also popular. Not every site in every country will accept every card though. Visa Debit and MasterCard are big international brands, but there are also country-specific brands in every jurisdiction in Europe.
PayPal
The history of PayPal’s involvement with the casino banking sector is a fascinating little story of the legality of gambling. PayPal dropped out completely from the gambling market in 2003. This was done, it seems, to protect its American business by remaining squeaky clean in a jurisdiction where laws on gambling are confusing and patchy. In 2010 PayPal came back into the market, but it only partners with a limited number of sites and is very fussy. That’s why players love seeing PayPal logos on a site, it’s a great sign that it is high quality and pretty much guarantees its legal status.
However, as with all online payment wallets, you may find yourself paying fees to receive money by PayPal. The service is available in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, and the UK at the moment.
Payments are instant – that’s the point of the service, after all – and withdrawals can take up to three days.
Skrill
The disappearance of PayPal left an opening in the gambling market. Into that gap leapt a number of payment processing companies, including Skrill, which now incorporates a number of brands, including Neteller.
Payments are instant and Skrill is very widely recognised and accepted. Known as Moneybookers before, it works as a sort of interface between you and other online payment methods, including bank transfers, and prepaid cards, now branded by MasterCard. Pay-outs should be instant.
Neteller
Neteller is also massively popular with online casino banking. It works in the same way as PayPal. You put money into an account, then the casino site takes money from your account to fund your gaming, and you can pay winnings into your account too, and should be instant.
It’s a web-based service that accepts payment from bank accounts and other online payment methods. You can also now get Neteller credit cards.
Click and Buy
Another instant pay-out online wallet that, as yet, does not offer withdrawals onto its balance.
Trustly
If you’re reading this in the Baltics or Scandinavia, hello! You’ll know Trustly, which is popular in northern Europe but can be used across Europe. It functions as a bank transfer proxy online.
Revolut
Revolut is new and claims to be a no-fee instant transfer service for making online casino deposits. It can also receive payments, and these should be instant.
When we talk about no-fee services that means no fee is openly accounted to you to be paid. There is a fee for every service and you will pay for it in some way, even if it is accounted via the casino payouts.
Interac
Very popular in Canada but available worldwide, Interac is one of the best-established payment providers in the world and provides instant payments to and from casino sites.
Pay n Play
Pay n Play is a branding from Trustly that works without a registration process. This sounds a great idea, and we believe it to be safe.
ECOCard
This is an e-wallet offering payments into and from casinos. Both cashing up and cashing out should be instant.
EntroPay
Payments with EntroPay should be instant, but it’ll take you between three and five days to get your money out. If those figures look familiar it’s because the service is basically a prepaid debit card – you cash it up and spend with it!
UseMyFunds
This system is popular across Europe, particularly in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK. Payments are instant.
Paysafecard
This is a clever system that allows you to buy plastic cards that you can then use online to spend money on the internet. It is now owned by Skrill. You’ll need to find a shop selling the cards, and you cannot withdraw to a Paysafecard but this is a great way to gamble online and very secure.
SOFORT Banking
This is a bank transfer system that is used in some of Europe’s biggest economies, including France, Germany and Austria. It offers instant payments, but you’ll need to transfer out to a bank account.
Bank Transfers
The oldest way in the book! It takes a while to transfer money, so you cannot cash your account up instantly, though it should be quick. It’s also super safe and anyone who prioritises speed over safety in online casino banking might end up losing out.
Cheques
Not every site will accept a cheque, but some will. Obviously, you will need to send a cheque to the casino, so really they need an address in your country, and you’ll need to wait for postal delivery or pay for a courier. Payments take time – as long as a week.
Ozan
Ozan is a new system that claims to be an online money-management app for mobiles. You can use it to pay at casinos and should get instant payments to and from casinos.
Pay by phone
This is where we can’t keep up! New pay-by-phone systems are hitting the market hard in 2018. It’s the natural way to go – people are using their phones to play, so it makes sense to use them to pay. This can include adding money to your mobile phone bill as well as transferring money by text (SMS).
Boku is the best known of these new apps, but you should keep your eyes open for new ones. Be aware that if you add money to your phone bill it is essentially a way of gambling on credit, which comes with some of its own risks for players.
Bitcoin and crypto
Cryptocurrencies are booming. You may or may not like them. You may find them immoral and unsustainable. Or you may be up to your belt loops in them.
If you want to use them to gamble, then please do. Cashing up and cashing out should be just as easy as with any other method, and transfer times should be quick.
There is one proviso with cryptocurrencies: don’t play at a site that offers ONLY cryptocurrencies as a payment method unless you are very sure that the site is safe. Bitcoin and the like are so linked to crime and money laundering that it’s just too risky to step completely into that world.
Making an online casino deposit
You will be unsurprised to hear that casinos like you to put money into your account! Seriously, if there’s one page on a casino site that you can always find it in the banking or deposit casino page. That’s no bad thing, as you’re going to need to put money in to play for money – no cash in, no cash-out!
The process should be simple. You will need an account to put money into – never put money into a casino site that you haven’t had to set up an account at. Setting up an account might mean providing some sort of personal ID. This is a legal requirement in a lot of jurisdictions and helps to keep legitimate players safe. It’s a pain in the neck and can take time, but it helps to keep the business legitimate.
However, we don’t have any problem with people who want to complain bitterly about sites that are perfectly happy about accepting your money on a tick-box promise but get all concerned about three documentary proofs of who you are before they will pay you your winnings. This goes back to our point about not playing at sites which you are not legally entitled to play at. Sites might let you sign up relatively easily, but if you’re going to have to send a scan of your birth certificate to a site to collect your big win then you need to be able to legitimately prove you can legitimately play there.
Online casino banking interfaces are generally these days very simple. You’ll be taken to a banking page. This will allow you to type in or select from a drop-down menu to pick an amount. You will also be allowed to select how you’re going to pay. Most payment systems use an intermediate step where you’ll put in your password or account details for the payment method you’re using. And bingo! Your account should be credited!
Making an online casino withdrawal
This should be just as simple. And it isn’t. And that sucks. After getting that out of the way, this is how we should do it. All of these steps will depend on what country you are in and what the law is there. In a country with completely legally regulated gambling, you should have no problem in heading to your account balance, selecting the amount you want to withdraw (the more money in your bank account the better we think) and clicking the method by which to withdraw it. As we’ve seen, not all payment methods also accept withdrawals. And not all sites allow all withdrawal methods.
If you’d like to imagine how frustrating it is to have thousands of euros in an account that won’t pay out to the only payment method you have access to we’ll see you in a second. So make sure – BEFORE YOU START GAMBLING – that you are able to accept payments from the site in the way that it pays. This usually just means having a bank account and knowing your account number, including maybe your international account number. Some sites will send cheques, or Western Union and Moneygram cash, but by no means all.
Where’s my money?!
You may run into problems when you try to withdraw cash. That really sucks. Often though it is for a legitimate reason. If you haven’t proved your identity to the site they probably won’t give you the money. That’s to keep things legal. It is possible that they don’t like the way you’ve been playing, and might think you’ve been cheating. Hopefully, you haven’t, and hopefully, you’ve followed our advice and are playing at a site with good conflict resolution, customer service, and regulation.
There are also withdrawal limits at most sites. We think these are bogus. If you’ve won money you have every right to get your hands on it. However, it is the case at most sites. The only thing we can say is that you should make sure you read all the rules and make sure you’re happy with them BEFORE YOU PUT A PENNY INTO THE SITE. Once you’ve cleared your payment you should expect to see it showing up in your account or in your e-wallet balance within the time the site has promised.
Keep an eye on those balances, because delayed payments are costing you. If you don’t see payments coming through then you should start a complaints process against the site. The first time you withdraw will take a while because ID and money laundering rules have to be followed, but after that, you should be dealt with promptly and fairly.
Fast withdrawal casinos
We look at withdrawal times all the time, and we can tell you that most withdrawal times –as they are stated at sites – are broadly similar across the whole industry. That is the promise, but what about the practice? That is something that you will only find out by experience, sadly. You can do a lot by reading reviews and forum posts – but be aware that these posters aren’t always what they see – where you will see complaints popping up from time to time. But your best safety policy is being honest, to follow the rules, and to know the rules. Some players like to throw money around between wallets (and cryptos) and accounts, but that can be complicated.
When you start out in casino banking it is safe and simple to use one account and one casino and to only use really well known and legitimate operators. That’s for beginners – you may be able to play a more sophisticated game as you go along and become more expert.
Online Casino Banking – The Final Words
As with games, as with casino sites, and as with every online transaction the best advice any player can take is to read the rules. Every good casino site will offer a comprehensive guide to its own banking policies and practices. If you want to enjoy your time at the site with no stress then it will serve you well to read the small print, not just at the site but also at the e-wallet you are using. It is frustrating to have to wait days for payment, but that may be a trade-off that you feel is worth making for the extra security of a bank transfer.
Alternatively, you may feel that the fact that an e-wallet puts a buffer between your bank account and the worldwide web. Be well-read and be informed and you can use casino banking safely and securely to facilitate your gameplay and to accept your winnings. If casino banking is a source of stress to you then it’s not something that you’re doing right!