Think twice when choosing an online casino deposit option

The internet has undoubtedly changed the way most of us manage our everyday lives, but it has also created a number of relatively new problems particularly in relation to personal and financial security issues. Internet fraud and identity theft are both becoming increasingly common problems all over the world, and although it would be easy to blame any of the huge technology companies or the banks the bottom line is that we all also have a personal responsibility to protect ourselves as far as we possibly can. Every time we use the internet, including for example when we visit an online casino site we just need to be aware of the risks however small they might be. That caution is obviously even more important whenever there is an online financial transaction involved because it usually requires us to provide the site operator with some financial details which are not necessary when doing the same thing on the high street. Clearly playing casino games at an online casino inevitably falls into that category of financial transaction because we need to decide which of the many available deposit options we are going to use to fund playing the games. When choosing how to fund playing casino games online however it is not just the security issues we need to take into account, some of the potential deposit options will actually cost you money. Every online casino offers their customers a wide range of deposit options which have been designed to suit as many people as possible, but at least one of those options would certainly not be the best choice for most people. When it comes to purchasing goods and services online a credit card is often the best way of paying for them because of the built in insurance policy offered by the banks should anything go wrong. When it comes to paying money into an online casino account to fund playing casino games however, a credit card is probably the worst of all the available deposit options. Clearly there is no insurance policy which would cover any potential losses from playing casino games, so that reason for using a credit card as an online casino deposit option does not apply. It is also important during discussions about the best way to fund playing casino games online to point out that using a credit card is effectively gambling with borrowed money even if you regularly pay off the whole balance every month. If that is still not enough of a reason to forget the credit card as a way to fund playing online casino games, it will also cost you money.

Here at onlinecasino.ie we can only advise against gambling with money through the use of a credit card, but the banks take a rather different approach to anyone using a credit card for anything to do with gambling. Almost all the banks will apply a surcharge of at least 2% on any credit card transaction relating to gambling, whether it is gambling on horse racing or playing gambling games. It doesn’t matter whether we think that is fair or not, the banks do not like their credit card customers gambling with the bank’s money, and they demonstrate that very clearly by penalising anybody who does it. We all know that when we play any casino games online or in a real casino there is always a house edge, so choosing to also start playing with an additional loss from using a credit card as a deposit option makes very little sense, particularly when there are so many better alternatives. Before we go on to discuss some of the other deposit options we should also warn some Irish casino games players that some debit cards issued by Irish banks may also incur a penalty because of the way the transactions are processed. If you want to use a debit card as an online casino deposit option it would be wise to check with your bank first.

As we move towards what many people think could eventually be a cashless society, we seem to be becoming even more obsessed with plastic cards, so perhaps it’s time look at another of the common deposit options available at most online casinos, the pre-loaded cash card. PaySafe and Ucash are just two of the pre-loaded cards accepted by many online casinos as a valid way to fund playing their casino games. These cards operate in the same way as the pre-loaded foreign currency cards many of us use when travelling abroad. You simply transfer money from your bank account onto the card and use the card in exactly the same way as you would use a debit card. Clearly using a pre-loaded cash card to fund playing online casino games significantly improves your personal financial security because the online casino operator does not have access to your banking details, and of course there are no penalties incurred. It is also an excellent way to manage your gambling budget because you can only use the money you have chosen to put on the card. The other very popular online casino deposit option with similar advantages to the pre-loaded card is an e-wallet such as PayPal or Neteller. An e-wallet is effectively a totally separate bank account which can be used for a wide range of internet transactions including paying money into an online casino account. Once again the online casino does not have access to your primary banking details, nor does your bank know what you are using the account for. Both your financial security and your privacy are significantly better when using an e-wallet to fund playing casino games online rather than some of the other options, and again you will incur no additional charges. Whether you choose to use a pre-loaded card or an e-wallet account to provide the stake money for playing your online casino games, either of them will help you control your budget and improve your privacy and financial security and neither will cost you any extra.