Ways To Deposit

When I first wanted to start playing in online casinos and poker rooms, I thought it
would be as easy as 123 to start playing – surely all you need to do is to download
the software enter your credit card details and away you go?

Well yes kind of, but you may already have seen there are a multitude of different
payment and deposit methods available ranging from credit and debit cards right
the way through to the good old snail mail check!

There are a range of options but it is vitally important that you choose the right
one otherwise your casino and poker play may not be as rewarding as you first
think.

Credit Cards

Historically credit cards have always been the first thing people think of when
looking to deposit money – and why not – these days most of the major banks
offer internet fraud protection and depositing via credit card is pretty instantaneous
– so what is the problem – well there could be a few.

1, A lot of US credit card issuers now will not allow you to use their cards for
gambling transactions, this is also now starting to hit the rest of the world with other
big issuers.

2, Mastercard now prohibit winnings from being re deposited back onto cards
bearing their logo.

3, Some banks both in the US and UK who do allow their credit cards to be used to
deposit money, account for these transactions slightly differently and as a result
charge interest differently usually with no interest free period and certainly in the
UK with interest rates in excess of 21% AER.

4, There may also be limits with some online casinos and online poker rooms on
the amount of money you can deposit and have re deposited back onto your card
so if you win big you may not get it all back!

Debit Cards

Now becoming more standardised around the world but used heavily in the UK
and Europe, don’t tend to suffer the same restrictions as credit cards and of
course because the money is coming directly out of your bank account – unless
you have an overdraft facility you are not exposed to the excessive interest rates
associated with credit cards.

Bank Transfers

Still used a lot to make payments for bills etc, one of the biggest issues with
bank transfers is the time – funds are not moved immediately so you often have
to wait before you can use your gaming account for anything upto five days – during
which lets be honest the banks will be earning some interest off your money, and at
the same time the banks will charge you for the privilege of transferring your
money this way.

Online Payment Services

I guess Paypal may well have started this trend off but now there are a whole host
of online payment services to choose from (Paypal incidentally not being one of them
as when they were took over by Ebay they stopped allowing Paypal to be used for
casino transactions)

The best known ones are Neteller, Moneybookers, Western Union & Stormpay but
there are others such as Citadel.

All pretty much offer a similar service in that you open an account with them – for free
and you can then deposit money into them using either a credit or debit card or by
wire transfer etc, once you have deposited money into them you can then use this
account to deposit and withdraw funds from your online casino or poker room
account – in most cases immediately.

All have a range of different services attached to them and, obviously they have
to make there money somewhere, a range of different charges – as an example
I deposited £25 into my Neteller account from my UK credit card and was charged
a 98p handling fee by Neteller – which was taken directly off the credit card – approx
4% charge which is quite a lot especially if you are depositing large amounts into
the account.

However one of the main advantages of using services such as this is that you can
accept money and deposit money in different currencies – all converted at the
payment services conversion rates and you can use one account to fund a range
of different casino and poker accounts – and of course one account to receive all
of your winnings!

One final word of caution on this though – when using your credit card to deposit
funds into your payment service account just check with your card issuer that they
do not treat these deposits in the same way as they would treat a deposit to a
casino and sting you with high rates of interest on the transaction.

Snail Mail Methods

Need I say anything – if you really don’t want to use any of the above or you are
scared about leaving your details on the internet then you can always send a good
old cheque (check!) and wait for it to clear – some (not all) online casinos and poker
rooms accept this method.

Conclusion

There are a myriad of different ways for you to enjoy your online gaming and
deposit and withdraw money safely, if you do struggle to use your credit card
then one piece of advice which the banks would kill me for saying is to balance
transfer the money off your credit card into your bank account then use your debit
card to deposit the funds (thus avoiding the hefty interest charges) – be careful
though for balance transfer fees but this is a whole different article!