Choose your online casino deposit option wisely

There is no doubt that computers and the internet are the driving force behind almost everything we do in these days of global communications. Over the last thirty years we have seen computers develop from relatively expensive and bulky pieces of equipment which were only just beginning to be installed in peoples’ homes, to laptops, tablets and even mobile phones which we carry around with us every day. All of these modern devices enable Wi Fi access to the internet wherever we are and most also have far more data storage than the earlier PC’s. As you would expect therefore, this rapid expansion of internet access has totally changed how we manage our lives and even how we spend our leisure time. There are however new dangers which have also come with our increasing reliance on this technology. Social media sites for instance have been a boon for many people in terms of the ease of communication with friends and family, but they can also be a source of bullying and intimidation because it is possible to comment and remain anonymous. Our increasing reliance on the internet for many financial transactions has also created a whole new target for fraudsters, and we are constantly reminded that we should be extremely careful with our personal details whenever we deal online. From our point of view here at onlinecasino.ie that means when we are registering and playing casino games at an online casino. We have of course compiled our list of recommended online casinos with not only the quality of their casino games in mind, but also the security and data protection systems the site operators have in place. We have no reason to suppose that any of the online casinos on our recommended list fall short in terms of their efforts to ensure we have a safe and secure environment in which to enjoy playing casino games, but we can also improve our own security by choosing the best ways to manage our online casino accounts. We cannot play casino games at an online casino without opening an account and depositing money into that account. All the online casinos offer a very wide range of deposit options to make it as easy as possible for us to finance playing their casino games, but there are both security and cost issues to be considered when choosing which of those deposit options is best for us.

Before we go on to the deposit options you will find listed on the online casino sites, we should point out that there is one deposit option which will always be the most secure and the easiest to control, and that is to use cash. Many of us are used to gambling on the horses at our local betting shop using cash and most real casino enthusiasts also needed to use cash to buy their chips, so why not do the same when funding playing casino games online. For Irish casino games players both Paddy Power and Ladbrokes allow their online casino customers to deposit and withdraw money from their account using cash at any of their extensive estate of betting shops. The only drawback is that using this deposit option requires a certain amount of pre-planning, because the betting shops are not open 24 hours a day. Having said that it also means that it is harder to chase your losses after a run of bad luck.

When it comes to most internet transactions many of us quite rightly choose to use our credit cards because of the insurance element which protects us if the product or service we are buying proves not up to standard or even never arrives. Every online casino also lists most of the common credit cards among their deposit options, but there are many reasons why using a credit card as an online casino deposit option is not the best choice. The insurance element of using a credit card is of course totally irrelevant when it comes to playing casino games online, but more importantly using a credit card to fund playing casino games is actually gambling with borrowed money, which is never a good idea even if you always pay off the balance every month. Using a credit card for any form of gambling is also frowned on by the banks which issue the cards, and they all show their displeasure by adding a surcharge of up to 2% on any transaction associated with gambling. Add to that the fact that using a credit card as a deposit option will also be considered to be a cash transaction equivalent to withdrawing cash from an ATM, and will therefore also attract interest from day one, and this option starts to look like a bad idea. Playing casino games online or at a real casino means that we are already facing a house edge on every game, so adding a further 2% to that house edge doesn’t make a lot of sense if there are alternatives. An obvious alternative to using a credit card as a deposit option is of course to use a debit card. Whilst there are no problems with borrowing money to gamble or being charged interest, some banks will still add a surcharge if they can identify that you are gambling even though it is of course your money.

There is however one way to manage our online casino accounts which resolves all of these problems and increases our security, and that is the e-wallet. All the online casinos on our recommended list accept one or more of the leading e-wallets among their deposit options. The most widely known e-wallet is probably PayPal, but Neteller is also listed by most online casinos. Once opened an e-wallet account can be used for a variety of different internet transactions as well as funding an online casino account. Your bank will not know what you are using the account for, and the online casino nor any other website will have no access to your personal banking details. In terms of security and cost an e-wallet is a perfect solution to the funding of your account.