Online Gambling Deposits & Withdrawals

Using a credit or debit card to fund your gambling account is the most popular and widespread method all over the world, which shouldn’t be all that surprising if you consider how popular brands like MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover are. Obviously, the size of your deposit can’t exceed your limit if you opt to use a credit card or the amount of money in your bank account if you go with a debit card, but otherwise, this method is very fast and completely safe.

Making a Visa or MasterCard deposit is simple, as all you have to do is provide the gambling site with your billing address, card number, expiration date, and Card Verification Value (CVV) code – unlike in the case of e-wallet transactions, you won’t be forced to sign up for any services available at third-party sites.

Bitcoin is an open-source digital currency system, which was introduced in 2009 by an anonymous individual or group known only as Satoshi Nakamoto. Unlike the traditional fiat currencies, the system isn’t controlled by a single entity like a government or central bank – the entire network is completely decentralized, with individual users volunteering their computing power to execute and record network’s transactions. This means that nobody is capable of singlehandedly influencing it by adjusting the supply or exchange rates.

Another advantage of using bitcoins over fiat currencies is the fact that all the transactions are pretty much anonymous, as bitcoin users aren’t required to identify themselves by name or address. Furthermore, it is worth pointing out that while bitcoin started out as a rather gimmicky currency and wasn’t initially worth much, the total market capitalization of bitcoin exceeded $10 billion by the end of 2013 and the price of a single bitcoin totaled over $450 by April. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that further sub-units have been introduced to facilitate smaller transactions.

E-wallet sites are very popular with online gamblers due to extremely high processing speeds and relatively low fees – usually, the casino, sportsbook or poker room will receive your money instantly, allowing you to start playing for real money almost as soon as you make the decision to deposit.

Nevertheless, e-wallet sites like Neteller or PayPal are very picky about the gambling sites and countries they deal with – consequently, if your region has stringent gambling laws, odds are high that this deposit method won’t be available to you.

For example, US-facing gambling sites are notorious for refusing to accept e-wallet payments due to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, despite allowing European players to use this option to fund their accounts.

Prepaid cards are very similar to debit and credit cards, but allow you to go about funding your online gambling account in a more discreet manner. Most sites that accept regular credit/debit cards will also accept a prepaid Visa or MasterCard, so the entire process is as simple as acquiring a card, loading it with funds and making a deposit at the gambling site of your choice.

Unlike gift cards, prepaid cards can be reloaded both locally and online. A good example would be a Visa Prepaid Card, which can be loaded at any location sporting a Visa ReadyLink symbol.

You have to remember that some gambling sites won’t accept every prepaid on the market, so I’d advise contacting the support to confirm that the card you chose will work. Usually, the site’s staff can be contacted via e-mail, phone or even live chat, so that shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Money orders are very popular among American gamblers, which shouldn’t be all that surprising considering they don’t have many deposit methods to choose from. The main advantage of making a payment via a Western Union or Moneygram® money order is how reliable and popular they are – you can’t go wrong with a company that has over 270,000 outlets all over the world and earns $5 billion every year.

Sending your money via a money order is slightly more complicated than using your credit card or e-wallet account, but I’ll use the Western Union example to walk you through the entire process.

Credit card transfers and deposits are often declined due to insufficient funds – basically, you won’t be able to exceed your credit limit or deposit more than you have in your bank account.

Nevertheless, if you’re sure that you have enough funds to make your payment, the first thing you should check is whether you’ve correctly entered your billing address and whether the address matches the one you used when signing up for your gambling site account.

Many gambling sites have restrictions in place on the maximum allowed deposit, which means that you won’t be able to pay more than a certain amount with a single transaction. Usually, this limit is set between $1,000 and $2,000, and unfortunately, there’s no way to circumvent it other than by making two or more payments.

If you’re a high roller and you’d like to deposit more, I’d advise looking for a site that doesn’t have any maximum deposit restrictions in place. Whether you’re from Europe, Asia or the United States, finding a reliable poker room, casino or a sportsbook that doesn’t force you to limit your payments shouldn’t be an issue.

While most deposit methods are instant, which means that funds will be credited to your account the moment you confirm the transaction, some options will require you to wait for the money to go through. For example, a deposit made with a credit card will be finalized after being approved by your credit card company, while a bank wire transfer may take up to five business days.