One of the most familiar aspects of the online casino experience is being confronted with that long list of payment methods that your chosen site accepts – whether on the deposit or withdrawal page or at the bottom of the homepage. Let’s face it – it can be a bit intimidating! Putting down some of your own cold, hard cash with which to play slots, roulette or blackjack is a key part of what it means to be a member of an online casino. But does it make a difference which payment method you use? Is the most obvious – a debit or credit card, or perhaps PayPal – the way to go, or are there hidden benefits to going with a more obscure e-wallet or prepaid card?
Credit and Debit Cards
There’s really no more ubiquitous a casino deposit or payment method than the humble credit or debit card – basically every casino site, ranging from Casumo to 32Red, accepts them. Just look out for those well-known names like Visa, Maestro and MasterCard.
Both debit and credit cards are known for their high level of security – if you want to be sure that your money will be safe, it’s harder to think of a better option. Compare and contrast the various sites that we have reviewed to find the leading Maestro, MasterCard and Visa casinos.
Bank Transfers
Bank transfers – also known as wire transfers – are accepted by most online casinos, such as Dunder, and are used by many people who are only just getting used to online casinos. A bank transfer is certainly a safe and secure way of moving funds – it’s a very ‘hands-on’ method that removes the need for you to even disclose any of your personal details. However, it can also be achingly slow compared to many of the alternatives on this list, and who wants to be left waiting for several days before they can start gambling?
E-WALLETS
Neteller is one of the e-wallets that crops up most often in the lists of accepted payment methods at the various popular casinos – the likes of Casumo, Dunder and Casino of Dreams all accept it. As far as reputability is concerned, you really can’t do better than Neteller as a way of depositing and withdrawing casino funds. It’s owned and operated by the publicly traded British global payments company Paysafe Group, is associated with super-fast payouts and implements all of the latest security measures to give you the utmost peace of mind.
Paysafecard is another one of those prepaid cards that seem to be accepted at pretty much every online casino – some that are happy to take Paysafecard payments include Casumo, 32Red and Casino of Dreams, among others.
Many thousands of websites across the world accept Paysafecard, which is straightforward to use – you simply visit a Paysafecard sales outlet near you, add funds to your card and then enter the 16-digit pin code associated with your Paysafecard at your chosen online casino.
Formerly known as Moneybookers, Skrill is an e-wallet that works in a similar way to the better-known PayPal. You sign up for an account, add your bank account details to it and transfer funds to your Skrill account, so that the online casino you’re using never has the responsibility of directly handling your bank account information.
If for any reason you do prefer the prepaid card way of doing things, Skrill even offers its own prepaid MasterCard. Examples of Skrill casinos include Casumo, Casino of Dreams, 32Red and Dunder.
PayPal is in many ways the e-wallet to beat all e-wallets. It’s certainly the one that you are most likely to have heard of if you are a newcomer to the online casino world, at least if you have ever purchased an item on eBay, the auction giant which took over PayPal in 2002 but has since spun it off into an independent company.
Basically everything that you could hope for from an online payments system is offered by PayPal. It’s also easy to find a PayPal casino, with one of the best-known being 32Red.