These days, most things can be done digitally—school, work, hobbies, and more—and this includes casinos as well. Long gone are the days when you had to leave the comfort of your home just to drive to the nearest local casino or fly off to Vegas just to play your favorite table games or slot machines. While online casinos aren’t a recent concept, it grew especially popular with the advent of the ongoing health crisis, which greatly impacted gambling in general.
What makes online casinos even better than land-based ones is the fact that it offers variety and countless options in terms of payment methods. For instance, many physical gambling destinations only accept cash, but with online platforms, you can deposit in casino with Afterpay, credit or debit cards, e-wallets, and more. Online casinos offer versatility, and that’s something many people appreciate since we’re entering a cash-less age.
Reliable Payment Options
To give you an idea about what your options are, here’s a list of some of the most reliable payment options out there for gamblers across the globe.
Afterpay
If you’re more interested in a credit scheme wherein you can ‘buy’ something now and pay for it later, Afterpay is the method for you. Believe it or not, but there are many online casinos out there that offer Afterpay as a payment method, which allows you to create an account and start playing even though you haven’t made a payment just yet.
This is ideal for those players who don’t want to connect or reveal their actual bank details. It’s a completely risk-free option, and you can even pay within four installments if you want to.
Credit and Debit Cards
Credit and debit cards are one of, if not the most popular, payment methods across the globe, especially for gamblers who live in the United States and Europe. This doesn’t come as a surprise, though, especially since most online casinos and sportsbooks accept major credit cards, including MasterCard, Maestro, Visa, and others.
E-Wallets
More and more people are beginning to dive into e-wallets, especially since it’s incredibly easy to withdraw money using this method. In fact, you typically only have to wait less than 24 hours. That being said, it also has a downside: most e-wallets have transaction fees. Fortunately, these fees aren’t too heavy, and some can even lessen the amount through loyalty programs.
Neteller
Neteller is a major e-wallet used for online gambling payments—in fact, it used to be the flagship provider. You can play UK online slots games with ICE36 and fund your gaming account using this established payment method. However, its popularity has declined a bit since there are more payment options available now. Nevertheless, it’s still a popular e-wallet and many people still use it, especially since most online casinos accept it.
Paysafecard
Paysafecard is another popular e-wallet that’s especially known for its security. By using this e-wallet, you can rest easy knowing that hackers won’t easily be able to get to your money, especially since it has a special 16-number PIN code that only you know about.
EcoPayz
EcoPayz is an e-wallet that grows in popularity every day. It’s also known for being a secure platform, and you can rely on it for all your online casino transactions.
Skrill
Of course, there’s also Skrill, another renowned e-wallet that is regulated under UK law. You can easily deposit money into your Skrill account and use it for your online casino needs. It’s available and accessible in most countries, so you shouldn’t have any problem using this e-wallet.
Instant Bank Transfers
As its name implies, the type of transactions done with this payment method is instant. If you’re in a hurry to withdraw or deposit your money, instant bank transfers are the way to go.
iDEAL
iDEAL is an instant bank transfer provider that doesn’t have any transaction fees, which is one of the reasons why its so popular. That being said, this provider is typically used in the Nordic areas, with its popularity level being the highest in the Netherlands.
Giropay
Giropay functions very similarly to iDEAL and it’s just as popular as an online casino payment method, too. It’s very simple to use, which is one of its main appeals. This instant bank transfer provider is mostly used in Germany, so German punters are most likely familiar with this one.
Trustly
As for European gamblers, Trustly is one of the most popular instant bank transfer providers within the gambling community. You can use Trustly as a middleman between your bank and your online casino or sportsbook of choice. By using Trustly, you don’t have to enter any of your sensitive bank details into the iGambling operator, which prevents or saves you from fraud or misuse.
Bank Wire Transfers
On the opposite end of instant bank transfers are the bank wire transfer. This payment method is also generally accepted by most online casinos. It’s secure and reliable, but the downside is that it’s not instant. You have to wait up to a week for the processing to be completed, so this may not be the ideal option for those who want their funds right away.
Blockchain
Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have completely changed how society viewed currency, and its reach has also reached sportsbooks and online casinos. As a matter of fact, many people already consider blockchain to be the future of online gambling, if not a major part of it.
Different Security Protocols Employed by Online Gambling Sites
As you can imagine, online casinos have countless transactions involving large amounts of money. Funds are constantly coming in and out of these platforms, so what steps are they taking to ensure the safety and security of their loyal users’ personal information?
Firewalls
Online casinos do everything they can to ensure that unwanted or questionable traffic doesn’t enter their servers, and they do this by utilizing firewalls.
Security Certificates
It can be simple for online gambling sites to claim they’re safe and reliable. In fact, they can even fake certification logos and display it on their homepage. As such, it’s best to thoroughly check the website if you’re having any doubts. You can reach out to the site’s issuing company or even the FAQ section to ensure that their security certificates are legitimate.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
It’s always a good thing when a website has a Secure Socket Layer or SSL because this means your information is encrypted. In other words, you can rest easy knowing that prying eyes won’t be able to get their hands on any personal or sensitive information you’ve entered on the site.
Conclusion
When it comes to online gambling, your options are nearly limitless. If you’re not comfortable using your personal bank details, you’re free to use other options that you deem safe, like Afterpay, e-wallets, and any of the other aforementioned options. Check out each one of these payment methods and do your own research as well so you can decide which one is the best and safest one for you.