From Sun City to Las Vegas, and from Monte Carlo to Macao, everyone loves a night in the casino from time to time. The silver screen has played its part in portraying it as the ultimate place for adult sophistication. As if the opportunity to be Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, or George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven for a night was not enough, the possibility to maybe, just maybe, come away with a big win can only add to the allure.
Online casinos
These days, of course, there is no need to venture out to Sun City to indulge your love of slots, roulette or blackjack. The mobile gaming revolution has led to a whole new industry sprouting up around online casinos. As well as convenience, they offer financial advantages over their land-based brethren. The Play Casino database lists a variety of options where users can get a generous no deposit bonus, take advantage of free spins and find numerous other tempting offers, particularly for new members.
You might wonder why these casinos are being so “generous” – of course, the answer is that it is a hugely competitive buyer’s market. New sites are regularly appearing and each one of these casinos is desperate to attract new players.
Gamers and gamblers should be seeing dollar signs all the way. A no-deposit bonus essentially means you are gambling with someone else’s money, and free spins have the effect of making your bankroll last longer, sometimes by as much as 300 percent.
That’s all well and good, but in an online casino, you cannot simply go to the cashier and buy some chips before you begin and cash out your winnings at the end of the evening. Gamblers need a reliable way of adding money to their gaming account and, even more importantly, withdrawing their winnings.
Points to keep in mind
Naturally, you will want the facility to deposit money into your casino account straight away, so you can get up and running, and you likewise want to be able to convert your winnings into money in your pocket. You will need know how quickly the transactions will take place, what fees you are likely to incur and whether there are any special bonuses or incentives you can take advantage of.
Depending on your geographic location, there might also be legal or regulatory factors to bear in mind. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular options.
1) Use an e-wallet
Probably the most common means of conducting financial transactions with the casino is through an e-wallet. There are numerous big-name platforms to choose from, the most famous being PayPal, Neteller, Skrill and Google Wallet.
Use a platform like this, and you know your money is safe, or at least as safe as anything, and certainly more secure than walking around Vegas or Sun City with a pocket full of cash.
These platforms are accepted by all the recognized online casinos, and while fees and transfer times vary from one to the next, they are usually both cost effective and quick.
2) Get a prepay card
In 2018, the notion of a prepay card that you “charge up” with money seems a little archaic, but the idea has plenty in its favor. If you want to set yourself a limit and stick to it, this is the method for you, and it is also a handy way of depositing money if there are regulatory constraints that prevent direct bank transfers.
The downside to this method is that it can only be used for adding money to your account – you will have to use one of the other method for cashing out.
3) Bank transfer
Perhaps the simplest method of all is to simply set up a bank transfer with the casino. Also known as a wire transfer, it might be the most straightforward, but it can also be the slowest. In some geographic locations, there are also regulatory restrictions, and despite the fact that there is no “middle man,” each transaction can take a matter of days. Fees are also highly variable, depending both on your casino and on your bank.
That’s not to say a bank transfer is something you should immediately rule out, but you need to get acquainted with all the facts. For most people, it ultimately makes more sense to use one of the other payment options.
4) Credit or debit card
You can still make direct payments, even without setting up a bank transfer, simply using your credit or debit card. Of course, like the bank transfer option, there are some countries and jurisdictions in which this is not an option.
Card payments are typically quick, but fees and commission rates can range from the non existent to the astronomical, so make sure you do your homework or you could be in for an unpleasant surprise when you go to collect your winnings and find they have disappeared in fees.
5) Cryptocurrency
We’ve all heard of Bitcoin, and it seldom seems to be out of the news at the moment. While the traders continue to debate whether it constitutes a good investment, there is no doubt that it can come in very handy as a straightforward payment method.
Bitcoin casinos are on the up, and this payment method is getting steadily more popular. The general trend is for casinos to offer Bitcoin payments with little or no fees to encourage greater uptake.
Casinos love Bitcoin for the lack of transaction fees and it means they can offer a lower house edge – in fact, some Bitcoin casinos are operating with no edge at all, and are simply using advertising revenue to make money.
For users, there are manifold advantages, too. Bitcoin has the benefit of anonymity, meaning that those who want to make some money without prying eyes having to know about it can do so. It is also a payment method that is becoming increasingly popular in jurisdictions where payments to online casinos from conventional banks are prohibited or restricted.
