Funding Methods for Casinos

One important aspect for a player is the management of their account, both experienced and novice players need to understand how funding of their account works. This need some close attention as the range of options are vast and the perfect solution for one player might not be perfect for another.

We would like to cover some of the better known options available or online gambling players.

PayPal as a Payment Option

In the early days of online gambling prior to good broadband and excellent social media, gamblers trying to play with real money was pretty precarious and mostly to be avoided. However, things have changed as in some states of USA and many parts of the world online gambling is now accepted and legal, plus properly regulated, ensuring customer safety of their accounts.

One of the more popular funding methods is PayPal, which is secure and convenient method for sending and receiving money online.

PayPal has a solid 15 years of doing business in 25 different currencies in 180 countries.

PayPal funding gambling activities is relatively new compared to other funding methods, and they have very strict policies for overall security and supervises accounts actively. Receiving a number of complaints with regard to a specific online casino could ban a casino’s account.

PayPal only accepts accounts with online casino if the casino has a valid licence in the player’s country.

Skrill/Mioneybookers

Skrill previously known as Moneybookers, is one of the increasingly popular payment solutions that allows players to transfer money worldwide without a player exposing their credentials or credit card details at any place during transactions. Due to their ease of use and convenience, Skrill has become a very popular funding method at many online casinos worldwide.Some History of Skrill as an Online Casino Payment Method

Skrill started out as Moneybookers 2001. They quickly established a name for themselves to become one of the leading online payment providers an acquired almost two million users in their first two years.

By the year 2008, Moneybookers expanded their operation to over 200 countries worldwide. They soon had giants, such as, Facebook, eBay and Skype integrating their payment gateway. By 2011 Moneybookers customer base had expanded to 25 million all over the world, then rebranded to Skril at that time.

2015 saw the acquisition of Skrill Optimal Payments (parent company to Neteller), at that time the Skrill Group took over a UK competitor, Ukash. Skrill has also during 2014, became the only officially approved digital wallet for online gambling usage in New Jersey, and that the United States is on the Skrill’s list of supported countries during 2015.

Visa Credit Card

Credit cards have become an essential part of the overall funding mix and one cannot ignore the largest provider in the business – Visa.

Using a Visa Card is a handy option to use to fund a online casino account.

A Brief Background On Visa

Visa Roots date back to the 1958’s, at that time it was an experimental credit card program from the Bank of America, The modern version of Visa’s Credit Card started in 1976, that was when a few of the existing credit card companies, such as, Barclaycard, Carte Bleue, and Chargex united under the new brand.

Since then Visa has become one of the largest financial services on the planet, currently they processes over 62 billion transactions annually with monetary volumes of more than $5 trillion.

A little known fact about Visa is that they don’t issue cards themselves, instead they act as a provider for the other institutions offering a branded services.

This strategy has proven to be very successful by way of example, Visa currently holds more than 35% of the credit card marketplace, and more than 60% of the debit card marketplace just in America.

MasterCard

MasterCard is a very well known global payment processing solution, they are based in the United States, they use banks worldwide to issue cards under their brand of debit and credit cards. Initially it was set up to be a competitor to the Visa brand, however, they have since expanded worldwide to become aone of the leading payment processors as a global brand. MasterCard is one of he most widely accepted cards all over the world, they offer competitive transaction costs, high reputation for security and ease of use.

Most Casinos accept MasterCard as a secure payment option. Customers are protected against fraud, plus its one of the more convenient methods for depositing and withdrawing.

Some Background On MasterCard

MasterCard initially came into existence in response to the dominance displayed by of Visa in the US. They were created in 1966, initially the card was known as Interbank and/or Master Charge prior to officially being renamed as MasterCard in 1979.

MasterCard expanded worldwide prior to going public in 2006. and they report annual revenues of more than $9 million.

Neteller As a Payment Processor

Online Casinos have seen phenomenal growth over the last decade, much of the popularity of this phenomena can be attributed to the ease of access that new technology offers, the contrast of getting dressed, then drive to a bricks and mortar casino in comparison to just being able to log on to your computer or smart phone and have access to a whole range of games from slots to specially games all in the comfort of a player’s home is very tempting and works well. With online computer software, the emergence of a new generation of payment methods have played a crucial role in making online casino more accessible for everyone. This is something that would have been unthinkable 15-20 years ago.

Neteller is a big favourite for many online gamblers because Neteller’s active acceptance of casino transactions and sportsbook business.

Some Background on Neteller

Neteller is a prominent e-money and e-wallet provider that caters specifically for the needs of online casinos worldwide. The company is a part of the Paysafe Group, originally founded in Canada in 1999, then followed a move to the Isle of Man in 2004.

Neteller very quickly established a name for themselves to become one of the leading payment facilitators in the online gambling industry. In no time they were responsible for the processing of payments for more than three-quarters of the then emerging online gambling industry. A very large proportion of the initial user base for Neteller was comprised of mostly US gamblers prior to the eventual exit from that market.

Since then the company expanded their operations worldwide, and the acquisition of their rival Skrill by the parent company shows that they will be continuing to be in the forefront of consolidation in the online payments industry.

Bitcoin As a Payment Method

Bitcoin has become one of the most revolutionary payment methods in recent years. Bitcoin is an option that is proving to be increasingly attractive to many gamers worldwide because of its low transaction fees and speed of transferring funds.

Understanding Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a digital currency that is not controlled by any of the financial institutions, it is often referred to as cryptocurrency, it works through a software wallet stored on the owners computer enabling the wallet owner to be able to purchase online as well as pay for services worldwide. This software is fully open source and is not owned by any single entity. Its available for anyone to use.

Using exchangers, Bitcoin wallet owners can exchange their Bitcoins to flat currency, (USD, AUD, CAD or any other currency). one of the big attractions of using Bitcoins is its low transaction fees the best high end security because of the anonymous method of transactions. Using a bit coin wallet each person is given a wallet identifier which is a long string of numbers and letter, there is nothing to identify the owner of the Bitcoin address, This is a big plus for online gamblers.

American Express as a Payment Option

Finding a casino account today is relatively simple compare days gone by when it was a major problem moving funds in and out of a casino.

One of the most popular Credit Cards is American Express or as also known as Amex.

Some Information About American Express

Amex is an American institution founded in 1850, and is one of the 30 listed companies comprising Dow Jones Industrial and has been ranked 14th most valuable brand in the world. Amex is a solid safe option for funding your casino account. Amex is responsible for approximately one quarter of all Credit Card transactions in USA and 109.9 million cards worldwide. Despite fierce competition from Visa and MasterCard, Amex is still one of the best options that is accepted all over the world.

Ukash As a Payment Method

Ukash is a UK based company that calls itself "the online payment option that will let you use your cash to pay, play or to send money online completely safely and securely".

Their secret is the possibility of exchanging cash for a secure 19-digit code that is to be used for purchasing online. UKash has become a very popular option for many online gamers, this includes many people who might not have access to credit cards. There are a large number of casino that are offering UKash.

Some information abut UKash, they are a London-based Smart Voucher Ltd. They have a very strong track record and high reputation. The company has been in business since 2001. Because they are regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), they are regarded as an Electronic Money Institution, which means that they are governed by some of the most stringent of regulatory standards in the world. A good sign to trust them with your money. The company has also achieved a string of awards (that include the Queen's Award for Enterprise) as well as a consistent showing in the Sunday Times, Tech Track index, of a positive growth company.

All of this adds up that Ukash is a serious player of online payments with significant resources behind it.

How Ukash Works With Regards To Online Casinos

Ukash is an e-Money system that is quite simple. Using Ukash a person will exchange cash for a unique 19-digit Ukash code that can be used for payment over a network of online sites. Thi sisa very flexible and secure method, meaning a person is not locked into spending specific amounts. Change can be given on any purchase with further Ukash codes.

Ukash network of location when one can obtain these Ukash codes is growing fast and currently there are over 420,000 outlets worldwide.