Deciding Between Online Casino Deposit Methods

Deciding Between Online Casino Deposit Methods

There are over a dozen ways to make deposits at many online casinos, but not all of them are a good fit for each individual player. We want to show you what the advantages and disadvantages are of each option and how you can figure out which will give you the most value and be the best fit for you.


Picking and Choosing an Online Casino Deposit Method

Before you can actually get into the strategy of playing online casino games, you have to put funds into your account first. While you can just pick the first option on the list that you have available and get to it, that doesn’t mean that you’ll be picking the method that gets you the most value.

All deposit (and withdrawal) methods are not created equal, and they have some very important differences that can make one much better than others for individual players.

Since we’re all about making sure that our readers get the most value possible, we’re going to break down what you need to know about all of these options and what to think about when deciding which of them will be the best option for you in a given situation.

An Overview of the Options

First, we’re going to take a quick look at the options and break down the key characteristics of each. Down below, we’ll then look at how to figure out what to prioritize when it comes to choosing how to deposit to a given casino.

Credit and Debit Cards

Credit card casino deposits (or debit cards) are some of the most popular options available. This is because most players already have them ready to go, and it’s not much different than making any other type of purchase online.

The main advantage is that it’s really convenient to put in a deposit. However, the main disadvantage is that the fees are usually the highest of any of the available choices, which is generally transferred to the player in one way or another.

Electronic Wallets

A variety of electronic wallets are easily accessible once you get past the initial setup. This includes names like PayPal, Neteller and Skrill depending on where you’re playing. These act as a virtual bank account from which you can send and receive money.

The key advantage with electronic wallets is that it puts virtual distance between casinos and your bank account or credit card. The disadvantages are setup time and fees.

Cryptocurrencies

Finally, we have cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin and so on. These are relatively new and are based on blockchain technology that allow you to send and receive funds to and from virtual wallets using currency that isn’t controlled by any one country or central banks.

Your fees can be really low with these options. However, there is also a very serious learning curve, and they are only available at a minority of online casinos.

How to Pick the Best Option for You

Each of these types of options have certain pros and cons. Moreover, there are various options within each of these groupings, and there can be small variations between them that you’ll need to pay attention to. In what follows, we’ll break down some other key things to look at when picking which of these will be the best fit for you.

The Best Bonus Options

There are fees and other costs of performing transactions with each type of banking method, and those fees are largely passed along to the players in various ways. One of those ways is in the bonus options that are available.

Something cool about cryptocurrency options is that you’ll often have special bonuses available that are exclusive to those who use something like bitcoin. These bonuses are almost always a better value than anything else a casino has available, and that gives you a very clear level of value.

Of course, the trade off is that you have to put the time and effort into learning how to manage a crypto wallet and make transactions.

Ease of Getting Set Up

The amount of time you want to put into getting set up is something else that’s a very serious and practical issue. Many players don’t want a barrier to entry; they just want to hop on and get started playing as quickly as possible.

While you may be giving up some amount of value in this way, the fact of the matter is that it’s not worth it to put in the extra effort if you won’t be playing that much to begin with.

Because of this, generally speaking, players who don’t intend to put in that much time playing should stick with credit card options or electronic wallets that they already have set up. This is so they don’t have invest much more time in getting their banking methods set up.

On the other hand, if you will be playing a lot, then it’s worth taking the time to get a favorable electronic wallet set up or even going the cryptocurrency route because the funds you save over time will add up in a very real way.

What’s Available at the Given Casinos

Online casino selection has a lot of different components. The available banking methods are only one of those, and they aren’t necessarily the one point that you’ll be focusing on to make your entire decision.

Along these lines, you may decide to go one way or another with your deposit and withdrawal methods just because it’s what’s available at a site that has a lot of other positives for you.

If this is the case for you, then just make sure that you are taking into consideration whether you’ll be at that site in the long run or short run. If you think you’ll be there in the short run, especially if you’re the type of player who likes to bounce around to collect deposit bonuses, then you should still consider having multiple types of deposit options available to get the most out of how you’re approaching things.

Regulatory Issues

Depending on where you live and play from, there may be certain options that are not available. For example, some countries have regulatory commissions that do not want players using credit cards to make deposits. Others have rules against cryptocurrencies or certain types of electronic wallets.

We point this out because we want to make sure that you know to check with your local, regional and national laws so that you aren’t stepping outside of what’s legally allowed in your area.

Putting It All Together

The bottom line is that there’s a ton to consider, but there are a few popular cases that cover virtually everyone. Here is a quick summary of those cases.

  1. If you just want to get online and play some without worrying about learning something new, then a credit/debit card is usually your best option.
  2. Strategic players who are focused on lowering the effective house advantage as much as they possibly can will typically need to focus on casinos that offer cryptocurrency-exclusive bonuses.
  3. Players who aren’t super serious about their play but who do care about a higher level of online security will want to go with electronic wallets.

There are other cases for a minority of players, but these three cases cover most people most of the time. Overall, it’s not the most difficult (or even most important) decision you’ll make about where and how you’re playing online casino games, but it’s definitely worth putting the time into so that you pick out what will work the best for you.