Deposit Methods

When it comes to depositing money that you are going to be using for gambling at online casinos, one should be very careful about which method they are going to use. Since today there are a lot of different companies offering customers the option to deposit their money – and receive money – via the Internet, it is essential that one do all the necessary research, in to which company offers what, vis-à-vis their specific needs. Make sure you read all the fine print and carefully look at what measures are taken by the company to care for the security, privacy and confidentiality of each individual client so that you ultimately feel comfortable with whichever service you choose. You also want to look out for all the different charges being made and which of the services seems to be the most profitable to you (some of them even give out money, like interest rates if you keep your money there for a certain amount of time).

One of the reasons why so many of these different online payment methods has sprung up is due to the recent US enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, 2006 (UIGEA) which forbids credit card companies from accepting money from online casinos in America. This law made it almost impossible for US citizens to continue playing their games online for money and thus a solution had to be found. Below is a summary of many of the different options available for online casino gamblers.

A lot of people like to use credit cards when gambling online for the simple reason that they already have a credit card; they are accustomed to how they work and they don’t have to spend time setting up another account with a different company. Using a credit card is time saving too because as soon as the transaction has been approved, your casino account will be credited so that you can begin playing your games immediately. The only time a casino will reject your credit card for payment is if the data on the card somehow does not correlate with that of your personal information.

In general, the credit cards approved for online casino gambling include Visa, Mastercard and Diners Club (although Mastercard recently stopped providing this service for its US clients). Usually a casino that accepts these credit cards will have a very simple way of enabling a customer to deposit the money from their credit card via the casino’s software. Once you have done that, follow their instructions (just a few mouse clicks away) and as soon as your details have been processed, you will be able to buy extra credits on your card whenever you want. In terms of logistics and keeping track of things, you would be well advised to check your casino for details of how the money that has been deposited will be seen on your credit card bill. In addition, read the policies of your casino for details of credit limitation, how many transactions are allowed per day, as well as how many credit cards (and which ones) the casino will support. The limitations placed on the amount of credit cards is done for your protection against fraud and if necessary, can be increased in certain cases.

There are some disadvantages however, of using a credit card. One is that some of the casinos either cannot, or will not, give the profits back to a credit card which can be most frustrating, so be sure to read the “Banking” page very carefully on the casino before using a credit card.

The advantage of using debit cards to process your online casino gambling is that – as opposed to credit cards – you cannot spend more than you have. You have to deposit funds in to your debit cards and it is only that money that you can spend. So when it comes to thrill of casino gambling, you are more likely to be able to stick to a budget than you would with credit cards.

One way of using a debit card for Internet gambling is in conjunction with an eWallet through which you can add funds with your debit card to your eWallet and then with the eWallet, make deposits and withdrawals from the casino. Following that, it is very simple to make a bank wire withdrawal from the eWallet back to your bank account.

When it comes to debit cards vis-à-vis online casinos, various methods and services are offered so it is worth your while to investigate these carefully. One service insists on the authorization of every transaction; not only does this protect against potential fraud, it also aids those gamblers who tend to spend more than they intended to. Anyway the other thing one interested in using debit cards for online casino gambling should do is check out which reputable casinos accept debit cards, and make sure you look out for those that do not accept US citizens using debit cards if you are living in America. And if you are living in America, check out what states carry limitations and what they are (as this can make a real difference to your debit card usage too). And then finally – purely for your benefit – you should check out which casinos are offering attractive sign up bonuses when you sign up using one of their recommended debit cards.

In general, there are quite a few advantages of using debit cards as can be seen by the high rate of customer satisfaction. Each debit card owner gets a Personal Identification Number (PIN) which increases security and limits fraud potential. There is no waiting around with debit cards as it is issued to you immediately after you have made your request. In general with debit cards, you get 24 hour access to your debit card information as well as online real time funding. And of course if you want to access the money, given all the ATMs around the world, you can access it easily and at any time.

[ Continue to part 2 of this Deposit Methods Guide ]