Payment Methods Overview
General Introduction to Payment Methods
The available depositing methods can be broken in four major types; credit or debit card, bank transfers, prepaid cards or e-wallets. The usual accepted credit cards are Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club, and the funds are on a credit basis from the issuer. Debit card deposits come straight from a bank account which must have available funds to be able to be used. The debit cards commonly accepted are visa electron, delta, switch, solo, cirrus, and laser. Pre Paid cards can be bought or reloaded from registered vendors worldwide, and deposited directly into accounts. E-wallets are set up and handled online, with free and simple registration processes which provide instant access to funds.
Factors Affecting Deposit Methods
The first area affecting the success of deposit methods is the ethics of the issuer. For instance, Paypal does not support online gaming and therefore withdrew its services in 2005. Visa do allow the option but disagree with online gaming as part of their ethical statement and so will often decline deposits of the destination is known. The other deciding factor is legislation; with the events in America being a recent example. President Bush signed a bill on Friday October 13, 2006 known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This act effectively outlawed payments from both credit cards and banks to online casinos and poker rooms.
How This Affects Members
The major effect that the America bill has had on online casinos is that although not openly outlawing gaming itself, things have been made very difficult for American gamblers as the debate of what is and isn’t legal continues.. Many casinos have closed their doors to American members, and so there are limited places to play. This also affects the traffic at sites and so provides less action for non US members. With regards to depositing problems; many major providers ceased operating for American customers. Although Neteller was hoped to continue to serve the US market as it was based in the UK, it stopped accepting gambling transactions from US customers by May 2, 2007. Instadebit stopped US gambling transactions on January 19, 2007 and Firepay reacted in the same way also. Although accounts can be held, they can not be used for this purpose.
Luckily, e-wallets have proved to be invaluable. Company ethics can be bypassed by using either Paypal or credit card to deposit into an e-wallet. The money can then be transferred to a casino without fear of decline. With regards to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the major deposit methods used in the US were made redundant for the purpose of funding online casino accounts. However, e-wallets were unaffected and as a result many more have been created. Again, these can be deposited into using bank and credit card funding and used accordingly.
Deposit Methods Available to EU Members
Credit and debit cards payments are still the most popular in Europe, however some casinos will not accept funds from credits cards in certain countries; this can be checked on the casino website. E-wallets are in hot pursuit, with the most successful and commonly accepted for non US members being Moneybookers, ePassporte and click2pay. FirePay is still in business, with the FirePay electronic wallet servicing Canada and the UK. Instadebit is less widely used but still an option in some casinos. Neteller offers its services to a huge number of countries, with a new card option that can also be used in ATMs; however, Canadian members are no longer able to deposit into their online casino account.
How to Know Which Deposit Method to Use
All online casinos display their depositing options clearly, with simple guides and explanations. All casinos also either display a table or have a search facility which helps members determine which depositing methods are allowed for their country of residence. Any updates should be displayed on news and bulletin areas on the site, and also updated in the deposit section. It is not possible to make an accidental deposit using a method that is not allowed, the software is created to deal with this scenario.
