Which of the online casino deposit options is most suitable

Whenever we purchase goods or services online we always have to decide what is the best and safest method of paying for those goods or services we need. The internet is a fantastic resource, but doing business online has forced us to change the way we think about paying bills or conducting any form of financial transaction online. The overriding factor may be our personal security from the point of view of identity theft, or it may simply be cost. Either way it is an important decision and should not be taken lightly. It is no surprise therefore that here at onlinecasino.ie we also think that it is our duty to help prospective new online casino games players make that important decision. Once a potential new player has selected a suitable online casino site, the next decision is always which of the many deposit options offered by the online casinos is the best so that they can start playing casino games online. All the online casinos on our recommended list offer a wide range of deposit options for their customers, designed to make paying money into and withdrawing money from their account as easy and convenient as possible, but there are a number of factors we should consider before making that decision.

Internet shopping has totally changed our relationship with the retailer. With the exception of the big high street chains who also offer online shopping, we can no longer judge the seller by walking into their store and getting a feel for their attitude to service and customer relations, and in the absence of personal recommendation we are often taking a bit of a gamble when we order online. For this reason many of us automatically reach for a credit card for any internet transactions, because they offer an insurance element in the event of faulty goods or non-delivery. However despite the fact that every online casino lists all the major credit cards among their deposit options, using a credit card to fund playing casino games online does not fall into the same category as using a credit card to buy goods online. First of all we should point out that the insurance element of using a credit card is irrelevant when funding the playing of casino games, but more importantly anyone using a credit card to provide stake money for casino games is effectively gambling with borrowed money, and that is never a good idea. Even if that is not sufficient to dissuade you from using a credit card as an online casino deposit option, there is one more reason why using a credit card may not be the best choice. The banks do not like us using their credit cards for anything remotely connected to gambling, and will apply a surcharge of up to 2% on any credit card transaction related a gambling activity. On top of that using a credit card as a casino deposit option will be defined as a cash transaction in the same way as withdrawing cash from a cash machine, and will therefore attract interest from day one at credit card rates. Surely playing casino games and winning is difficult enough without putting ourselves at a disadvantage simply by choosing the wrong deposit option.

Having dealt with the disadvantages associated with using a credit card as a deposit option, let’s look at a debit card. Most people who gave a current account will have a debit card linked to that account, and all the online casinos list most major debit cards in their range of acceptable deposit options. There may be one or two exceptions but almost all the banks will not penalise anyone using a debit card as a method of funding playing casino games, nor will there be any interest due because a debit card can only be used to transfer the funds you hold in your account. There are however a couple of potential drawbacks to using a debit card for this purpose. The first is that your chosen online casino will clearly have access to your bank details, and the second is that your bank will be very aware that you are gambling. These two potential negatives also apply to the two other ways to transfer money from your current account to an online casino account, both of which are also generally accepted deposit options. The first is a bank transfer and the second is the good old fashioned cheque. Neither of these factors may be important in your decision, but we should point them out.

Another potential online casino deposit option is a pre-loaded card such as Paysafe or Ucash. All the online casinos on our recommended list will accept at least one of these cards as a deposit option, although 888 casino will not transfer any money out of your account directly onto either of these cards and the option should therefore be ignored when playing at 888.

Having so far considered the least attractive online casino deposit options it’s time to move on to what we consider to be the best of the deposit options available to us. From every aspect except possibly convenience, the best online casino deposit option by far has got to be cash. In Ireland Betfred, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes all allow their online casino customers to manage their accounts in cash at any of their high street shops. From a privacy or security point of view there can be no better way to deposit or withdraw money from your account. The only disadvantage is that the service is only available during shop opening hours.

Finally we come to what many including us here at onlinecasino.ie consider to be the best of all the online casino deposit options, the e-wallet. The first e-wallet account was introduced by Pay Pal, but two more, namely Neteller and Moneybookers have become available since then and almost all the online casinos will accept at least one of these accounts as a deposit option. Using an e-wallet account to fund playing casino games online is safe and secure because neither your bank nor the online casino has full access to your financial data or what you are doing with your money. There are no charges and the account can also be used for a range of other internet transactions.