Casino Deposit Methods

Credit & Debit Cards

Whether you are a seasoned gambler or about to get your first experience in games of chance, you must have made purchases online via credit and debit cards and therefore should easily complete casino deposits and withdrawals since they are no different to any other type of online payments.

There are dozens of credit & debit cards, both well-known and local, but only a few of them are globally accepted. The 5 most popular credit/debit cards reviewed below cover the lion’s share of online casinos and it’s a very rare case when the casino misses employing at least one of those. Once you know the differences between credit & debit cards, you can proceed to pick the optimal one.

• Visa & MasterCardVisa and MasterCard are undoubtedly the most popular payment methods in online casinos. Available in more than 200 countries and territories and who knows how many casinos, these two payment methods ensure all the benefits the modern gambler needs – instant deposits & withdrawals, low fees, security, and protection against fraud. The latter is especially true with credit cards: you can ask to revoke the transaction and get your money back if you are able to prove that the casino cheated you. However, both Visa and MasterCard are just payment methods, not payment providers, which means the interest rates, fees, transaction quickness, and other details depend on the bank involved in the transaction. In general, MasterCard is more cost-effective with fees up to 1% against up to 3% for Visa.
• American ExpressThough you may not find any differences between Visa (MasterCard) and American Express, their very principles of operation are contrary. Unlike Visa and MasterCard, American Express is not only the payment processor but also the card issuer, which means it lends you money each time you swipe the card. American Express is more comfortable for high-rollers as it has more perks, though it charges higher annual fees.
• JCBBeing the only payment method headquartered in Japan, JCB engulfs 190 countries, predominantly Asian but with card issuers in Brazil and Europe as well, and enjoys an audience of about 90 million users. JCB uses its own J/Secure authentication service as an additional protection layer. Service fees are within 1-2%.
• UnionPayUnionPay is a Chinese payment method headquartered in Shanghai. UnionPay cards are used across the world in 164 countries and are sometimes affiliated with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, which allows them to be accepted literally everywhere. Just like Visa and MasterCard, UnionPay is not a card issuer, so all the pros & cons of using it depend on the payment provider.

Note that the list of major credit card companies, as well as debit ones, is not limited to the options above. We have researched dozens of credit and debit card deposit methods – just click on the one you are interested in to proceed to the details.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Neither credit or debit cards will impress you with their speed, fees, or privacy, but they are time-tested and globally accepted, as well as they successfully combine speed & cost-effectiveness, security & stability, which is especially true for renowned companies like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, and UnionPay. However, as being said, the main parameters of your money transfer are always established by the payment provider (card issuer), not the payment system itself.

Prepaid Cards

Prepaid cards are one of the safest ways to deposit to online casinos. They work in a similar way to debit cards with a very significant exception that they are not tied to your bank account. As a result, it’s almost impossible to trace the transaction back to the sender. Prepaid cards are mostly used by penny players and mid-budget punters since these cards are limited to a few hundred dollars and contain a predetermined amount of money. Most prepaid cards are disposable, but some of them are reloadable, meaning you can withdraw casino winnings into your prepaid card up to the maximum allowable amount.

Many world-known payment systems use prepaid cards: Skrill, Neteller, Visa, MasterCard, American Express – all these companies offer prepaid (aka gift) cards that you can use to shop online and pay to casinos. You can buy prepaid cards on the Internet or in a physical store.

• Disposable Prepaid CardsDisposable and gift prepaid cards are cards that you throw in a trash can once you spend the money stored on them. The most known disposable prepaid card is Paysafecard – a 16-digit card that enables depositing just by entering the numbers into the respective field on the Cashier page of the casino. Paysafecard is supported by more than half a million outlets all over the globe, stores up to £750, and sends up to £200 per transaction. Paying with Paysafecard is free, but the card charges a) a 3% monthly maintenance fee starting from the 13th month of usage for active users + £5 for inactive users; b) a conversion fee if currency conversion takes places; c) a redemption fee of £6.
• Reloadable Prepaid CardsReloadable prepaid cards can be recharged, but the casino may not support withdrawals to prepaid cards, so make sure to check in advance as well as make sure the withdrawal amount does not exceed the prepaid card maximum total balance.
• Virtual Prepaid CardsVirtual prepaid cards are reloadable cards that can be started on the Internet. Unlike its reloadable and disposable counterparts, any virtual prepaid card requires registration, which may be inconvenient for some gamblers. The most known one, Entropay, supports USD, EUR, and GBP and allows withdrawals. You can replenish your Entropay card balance via a credit/debit card or bank transfer and then deposit to an online casino the same way you do it with a debit/credit card.
• Physical Prepaid CardsPhysical prepaid cards do not have advantages over virtual ones except for you can put them in the pocket and then use wherever and whenever you want. EcoCard by EcoPayz arrives in a few days after you apply for it and can be used after activation in your EcoPayz account.

Advantages & Disadvantages

The pros & cons of prepaid cards come from the very nature of this payment method. On the one hand, prepaid cards are anonymous and instant – you can deposit to online casinos in a secure & private manner; on the other hand – prepaid cards are limited to a few hundred dollars/euros or pounds, most of them are used to send money only, and sometimes you have no other option than to visit a physical store to buy the card.

eWallets

E-wallets may be a win-win option for those willing to combine privacy and security. E-wallets are usually instant, though most of them charge fees considerably higher than, say, cryptocurrencies. Please keep in mind that with mobile e-wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, you have to connect your credit/debit card to the account to be able to pay.

Depositing with an e-wallet is simple – just make sure you have enough funds in your account and then confirm the payment by entering your user ID and password in the Cashier section of the casino. E-wallets are instant, cost-effective (though charge fees), secure, and anonymous if you do not complete KYC, though in this case, you won’t be able to extend the basic transaction limits.

• PayPalPayPal is the largest third-party payment provider in the world. PayPal is free, fast, easy to use, mobile-friendly, and safe. However, it charges business accounts with a 2.9% fee and thereby some casinos try to make up for it by imposing fees on PayPal deposits, not to mention that some banks charge fees for transfers from PayPal accounts as well. Other than that, PayPal is one of the best e-wallet choices for its global reach and utmost security.
• SkrillSkrill employs more than 30 currencies and can be found in online casinos in hundreds of jurisdictions. Skrill charges fees on every transaction: the full pricing list is available on the official website, so let’s just mention that Visa to Skrill transfers are charged with a 1.9% fee while outgoing transactions are charged with a 1.45% fee.
• NetellerUsing 128-bit encryption, Euteller is one of the safest (though not the most cost-effective) e-wallet solutions. Neteller does not charge any extra fees for sending money to online casinos and does not block gambling-related transactions, but the basic feed of 1.9% up to €20 isn’t too attractive.
• Apple Pay & Google PayThese well-known mobile wallets work along with credit/debit cards connected to your mobile app account. No extra levies charged on top of standard card fees, but neither Google Pay nor Apple Pay support withdrawals.
• BokuBoku is a real finding for haters of credit cards and bank wire transfers, as well as for penny players. Boku has a very low transaction limit of only £30 per day, but you can pay with nothing but your phone while payments will be charged to your phone bill.

There are dozens of digital and mobile wallets to pay to online casinos – just click on the favorite one to learn more about it.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Whether you use e-wallets to add an extra security layer, cut fees, or remain private, you can reach that goal with a proper digital wallet. Nevertheless, e-wallets are very different, sometimes even in the very concept of operation (for example, Boku and PayPal utilize completely different technologies), and the advantage of one e-wallet may be the drawback of another. However, you are likely to have some room for maneuver since most casinos offer at least several e-wallet alternatives.

Cryptocurrencies

After the two-year-long pullback, cryptocurrencies are gaining momentum and expected to enter a new bull cycle in 2020, which means more casinos will start accepting crypto and a new wave of players will get interested. We are not going to dig into the intricacies of blockchain but rather focus on the very benefits of using cryptocurrencies for online payments.

• Anonymity. Even though it is possible to trace crypto transactions (though not with Monero), cryptocurrencies offer a high level of privacy that requires very high capacity to be breached. In other words, you will remain anonymous unless you are the world’s worst evil wanted by the FBI and INTERPOL.
• Protection against fraud. No matter the crypto you use, transactions cannot be forged according to the very principle of blockchain operation. Simply put, blockchain is a ledger that stores all the transaction data from the very beginning and gives access to this data to every participant of the network. Moreover, the best casinos employ the so-called Provably Fair system that uses certain tools to prove the randomness of spins and outcomes.
• No bottlenecks. Blockchains are powered by miners spread all over the world, which means the network can get stuck only and only if the lion’s share of miners suddenly turn off their nodes. Not only is this not possible but also the network system is much safer than standard centralized companies.
• Low fees. Casinos usually impose no extra fees on cryptocurrency deposits, so such transfers will cost you no more than a few cents. In addition, you can adjust fees depending on how fast you are willing to get your deposit. Delays are possible in the case the network is overloaded, but you will know that in advance since crypto wallets show the correlation between the expected time of transaction and the fee.
• Near-instant delivery. With bitcoin, you will have to wait for 10-15 minutes, but with litecoin, bitcoin cash, or ethereum, the funds will be credited into your casino account in a couple of minutes or even faster.

The most popular currencies at online casinos are bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC), dogecoin (DOGE), tron (TRX), and ripple (XRP). That said, the crypto space evolves fast and you should keep abreast of the crypto rates and recent changes.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Near-instant delivery, global coverage, and negligible fees make crypto special. Cryptocurrencies have no drawbacks except for maybe higher complexity and low popularity among casinos reluctant to accept changes dictated by the epoch. Also, not all casinos that accept crypto enable withdrawals in crypto, but that is to be changed with time.