Popular Deposit & Withdrawal Methods Used At Online Casinos

By Alex Smith, Last updated Jul 1, 2023

One of the most important things for players at online casinos, is that they can make deposits and withdrawals easily and quickly. Of course, it’s also something that online casinos want to ensure is as streamlined as possible. Naturally, the more payment methods available, the more players are likely to join up at their site and go onto making real money deposits.
On this page, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the main payment methods which you’ll find yourself able to use at online casinos. We’ll look at the main payment method categories, following up with an in-depth look at some of the most popular ways of depositing and withdrawing funds within each of these categories.

Credit and Debit Cards

It probably goes without saying that using debit and credit cards is the most common way of making deposits and withdrawals at online casinos. To begin with, we’re going to take a look at the differences between credit and debit cards. After that, we’ll have a look at the different types of debit and credit cards.
Debit Cards: Debit cards are a popular way of making deposits at online casinos (particularly in the UK), and they allow you to make online purchases using money that’s already in your account. Let’s say you have a bank account with £1,000 in it. With a debit card, you’d be able to spend that entire £1,000 – but not any more (unless you have an overdraft facility.)

Credit Cards: Like debit cards, a credit card allows you to make various purchases online. However, the main difference between debit and credit cards is that with credit cards, you’re not technically spending your money. Instead, you’re spending the credit company’s money – and each month, you receive a statement with how much you spend. You must then make repayments towards the amount owed. Generally, consumers are given greater protections online when purchasing with a credit card, so while there are interest fees attached to using credit cards, they can often be a much safer method – especially if you’re making expensive purchases like holidays, for example.
So, now that you have a better idea of the differences between debit and credit cards, let’s take a look at some of the main companies which issue these types of cards.

VISA: VISA are one of the biggest companies on the planet, and they work with thousands of banks and creditors to issue cards to hundreds of millions of consumers around the world. VISA’s security protocols are state-of-the-art, and their anti-fraud measures are regarded by many to be the ‘best in the world’.

MasterCard: MasterCard is another global company, and, like VISA, they’ve issued hundreds of millions of cards to consumers around the world. Generally speaking, MasterCard don’t deal with bank accounts nearly as much as VISA do; instead, they tend to focus on credit cards.

American Express: Despite never gaining as much traction in Europe, American Express is one of the most trusted finance brands in the world, and they have a very heavy US presence. While not all retailers accept American Express, more online casinos are now accepting the card – and it continues to be an acceptable method of payment at many online casinos.

It’s worth pointing out that if you choose to use a credit card to make deposits at online casinos, you will more than likely need to register a secondary payment method to make withdrawals. This is because most credit card companies cannot accept payments back to the cards. Debit cards are, for the most part, OK – but withdrawals can take up to 5 working days to appear back on a debit card.

Prepaid Cards

Over the past decade or so, some online casinos have realized that some players are unwilling to use their main debit and credit cards online. This is understandable; at the end of the day, you don’t really know whether a casino has good security measures or not – and some people simply prefer not to give out their personal/sensitive card information. This is where prepaid cards come in handy. Prepaid cards allow you to make deposits as you would were you using a regular debit or credit card – but the way in which prepaid cards work, is slightly difference.

With a prepaid card, you apply for a card (your credit score isn’t affected), and once you’re issued a card, you can then ‘top it up’. Once you’ve topped up your prepaid card, you can then go ahead and use it at virtually any online casino you like – and this allows you to make deposits without revealing your personal debit and credit card details. Below, we look at a few of the most common prepaid cards available.

Paysafecard: Perhaps the biggest prepaid card company, paysafecard are a European-focused financial company. Their prepaid cards can be applied for online, and customers can then top-up these cards at thousands of retailers on highstreets. They’re particularly popular in the UK, where the ‘One Stop’ shops – a popular highstreet convenience store – have direct pay points that can be used to add funds to a paysafecard.
Entropay: Entropay is a little different to paysafecard; the card you get is actually a virtual prepaid card – and this means you don’t actually have a physical card. To get started, you simply need to head to Entropay’s website and apply for a virtual card. Once approved, you will then be given your card details – which can be used to make deposits at most online casinos. You can load funds onto your Entropay card using most major debit and credit cards, and this is done directly through Entropay’s website.

EWallets

EWallets are kind of the ‘bread and butter’ of payments in the online gambling industry, and they’re favoured by players and operators alike. Using an EWallet offers a significant number of benefits to players. For example, payments made using an EWallet are almost always completed instantly. This includes both deposits and withdrawals.EWallets are also – generally – free to use, although you may end up paying fees if you choose to withdraw funds out of your EWallet account to a local bank account, for example. Below, we look at some of the most popular EWallets which can be used at online casinos.

Neteller: Neteller is one of the major EWallet companies, and it’s also one of the easiest ways to make deposits and withdrawals online. Signing up for a Neteller account is simple – and all you need to do is head to their website and enter a few personal bits of information. As soon as your Neteller account is up and running, you’ll be able to make deposits into it (using debit and credit cards or a direct bank transfer), and you can then start using it at online casinos.

Skrill: Skrill – like Neteller – is another hugely popular EWallet method, and it’s offered at virtually every online casino on the planet. It’s also super simple to open an account with Skrill, and the only thing you need to do is head to their website, press the ‘Create Account’ button and enter a few bits of personal information. Unfortunately, Skrill have – in the past few years – increased their fees, so it’s not quite as good as it once was. Still, it facilitates fast and easy payments to online gambling websites, so it’s not all bad news.

PayPal: PayPal is one of the safest and most well-known payment processors on the planet, and for the past 20 years or so the company has allowed customers from around the world to make instant, nearly-fee-free payments to one another. While PayPal isn’t accepted at too many online casinos, it’s a great choice to see – and you’ll find that many UK-based casinos accept PayPal. Unfortunately, outside of the UK, few sites offer it as a payment method.

Cryptocurrencies

Over the past three to four years, cryptocurrencies have appeared on ‘mainstream media’ – and they’ve grown rapidly in both popularity and price. Today, there are some online casinos that specialise soelley in accepting customers using cryptocurrencies, and below, we’ll look at some of the most popular cryptocurrencies you can use at online casinos.

Bitcoin: Bitcoin is undoubtedly the most well-known and popular cryptocurrency, and it’s taken the world by storm’, some would say. To start using Bitcoin at online casinos, you’ll first need to have a Bitcoin wallet. You can open a Bitcoin wallet free of charge at many exchanges – a good example of one is LocalBitcoins. Once you have a wallet, you simply need to buy some Bitcoin. Once you own Bitcoin, you can then send them to people around the world and online casinos. Bitcoin transfers are instant, meaning you don’t need to wait around long for the transaction to be confirmed. They’re also pretty much fee-free. Each time you send Bitcoin, you do pay a small ‘handling fee’ – but it’s so small, it’s barely noticeable.

Monero: Despite not being as popular as Bitcoin, Monero is another fairly popular cryptocurrency, and a number of online casinos are now accepting it as a payment method. Like Bitcoin, deposits and withdrawals made using Monero are instant – and this means you don’t need to wait around for long for your payments to be confirmed.

Ethereum: Ethereum is another cryptocurrency that’s gained popularity over the past few years, and like Monero and Bitcoin, a number of crypto-focused online casinos now accept it as a payment method. Ethereum transfers are instant, and the process of purchasing the currency is relatively straightforward.

Bank Transfers

Most online casinos still allow you to make deposits and withdrawals using a direct bank transfer – although, due to high bank fees, most sites will have relatively high minimum deposit/withdrawal amounts. Some countries – like the UK, for example – have what’s known as ‘Faster Payments setup. This means that bank transfers are usually instant (or at least processed within 2 hours), but unfortunately this standard isn’t seen across the world.
Because the majority of online casinos are based outside of the UK, even if you live in England, it’s likely that your bank transfers won’t be instant. This is why the payment method is usually offered as a ‘last resort’ – it’s not uncommon for bank transfers to take up to 7 working days to process. Clearly, this makes it an unappealing deposit method for most players, so it’s best left for when there really are no other options.

Popular UK Deposit Methods

UK residents have a distinct advantage over customers from other countries; they generally have a much wider array of payment methods available to them. Below, we look at some UK payment methods which are used at many of the world’s most popular online casinos.

Trustly: Trustly is a relatively new financial business that aims to streamline payments for the online gambling industry. It’s a fantastic way for UK players to make deposits and withdrawals, as it allows players to make instant payments using their bank account. If a player from the UK wanted to make a deposit using Trustly, they’d simply need to select their bank from a pre-populated list, go through their bank’s security page, and the transfer will then be completed. Trustly themselves pay the casino instantly – so your funds will be available in your account within seconds. Similarly, when it comes to withdrawals, Trustly themselves pay you – so, instead of a withdrawal taking a few days, it typically takes between a few minutes and a few hours.

Boku: ‘Boku: Pay By Mobile’ is a controversial payment method that UK players can use. It allows you to make deposits using your phone bill. So, let’s imagine you wanted to make a deposit at an online casino for £30. You would select boku as your payment method, and you would then receive a text, confirming the amount you want to deposit. If you accept, that amount will be credited to your online casino account instantly – and you would then see the charge reflected on your next phone bill. The payment method has come under criticism for helping to facilitate ‘problem gambling’, but it’s fair to say it does have its uses.

As mentioned earlier, UK players will also find themselves able to use PayPal at a number of online casinos. This is a luxury that isn’t afforded to players from many other countries. Do you have preferred payment methods? Feel as though we’ve ‘missed out’ important payment methods on this page? Feel free to let us know in the forums!

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