The internet casinos are fun and
convenient, but that convenience goes
right out the door when customers,
especially those from the USA, are faced
with the depositing options available to
them and the fun could quickly be
substituted by frustration. At most
USA casinos, depositing money to fun
your player's account has become a real
chore and a hit-and-miss at best. Today
we will look at the most popular ways of
funding your casino account and how each
of those casino depositing methods work.
Credit Cards || Convenience: High |
Risk: Low
With the ever increasing
popularity of using plastic to pay for
thing throughout the world, there is no
surprise that the convenience of the
credit card has reached the internet
casinos, as well. We also put the debit
cards issued by many banks in the
category of the credit cards, since all
that matters to the payment processors
of the casinos (and other online
merchants) is the logo on the card.
Generally, both the debit and credit
cards are treated equally. The credit
cards offer fast, easy, convenient and
safe way to buy chips at the internet
casino, but that same safety is a
double-edged sword. A lot of casinos are
either opting out completely or are
lowering the limits of money one can
deposit via a credit card and the credit
card companies themselves will often
simply decline to process transactions
to and from gambling websites, because
of the high incidence of fraud (as
compared to more traditional online
businesses). People in the USA are in
even worse shape, having to choose from
a very small pool of
casinos taking credit cards and no
relief in sight for this issue. But for
the players, there is no easier
depositing method than the credit card.
E-check, ACH Deposit ||
Convenience: High | Risk: Medium
If convenience is a concern,
e-checks are second best. Just like many
people write a check at the store to pay
for a purchase and the store in turn
electronically processes that check,
players can add funds to their casino
accounts. In today's economy, long gone
are the times when checks had to be
taken to the bank by the business to get
cashed. Now the business electronically
places a debit on your account for the
check amount and the entire process is
very similar to using a credit card. But
as we always caution our visitors, make
sure you only gamble at reputable
internet casinos. Giving bank
information to a rogue casino is not the
best idea and may result in wasting a
lot of time taking care of disputed
charges, should your account information
fall into the wrong hands.
E-Wallets || Convenience: Medium |
Risk: Low
The e-wallets are the next big
thing in the online casino industry.
Ever since credit cards became a chore
for both the casinos and the customers,
e-wallets came to be a bridge between
the two parties. The workings of an
e-wallet are rather simple. The e-wallet
account acts like a virtual wallet, once
you open an account you can fund it
using various methods, such as credit
card, bank account, another e-wallet,
etc., then use the e-wallet account
itself to deposit money at the casino.
One can use an e-wallet much the same
way people use phone cards, i.e. you
don't send the money directly to the
phone company when you want to make a
call, but purchase a card first and then
use the card to pay for the call.
We arbitrary divide the e-wallets
in two groups, general e-wallets and
casino-specific e-wallets. General
e-wallets are popular solutions like
Neteller and Skrill, which can be used
at many internet casinos, although they
do not serve US players. A player from
the UK, for example, can use Neteller or
Skrill at one casino to deposit and can
withdraw their winning to that same
e-wallet account from a different casino
site. They are very convenient and can
be funded in many ways. The second group
are casino-specific e-wallets, i.e. they
would work only at a specific casino or
group of casinos. Examples of
casino-specific e-wallets are
MST Card and
MyPayLinQ. These are very popular
with internet casinos serving USA
players, since in America most credit
card deposits are declined by the banks.
With both types, the convenience is a
bit diminished due to the fact that the
casino player must first open and fund
an e-wallet account and then deposit at
the casino.
Person to Person (P2P) ||
Convenience: Low | Risk: Low
Another way some internet casinos accept
deposits is via Person to Person (P2P)
transactions. Those could be money
orders, MoneyGram, WesternUnion, etc. We
are unsure of the legality of such
methods, never mind that the convenience
is extremely low, since players have to
do a lot of work before getting their
casino chips. This casino deposit method
appears to be geared towards people who
don't have a bank account or credit card
and can only work with cash. The fees
also seem to be quite high, although
some casinos claim that they will cover
them as part of one's deposit.
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