The reason online gambling grows so fast is the industry’s openness to change. Operators embrace innovation to attract and keep players. From VR to AI, gamification, and cloud computing, online casinos employ solutions that could help them provide exceptional player experience. That includes payment methods.
The Current Landscape of Digital Payments in Online Casinos
What’s the first thing you look at when visiting an online casino? Our guess is, it’s the games they offer. Although the right move, it should not be the only thing you focus on when deciding what gambling site is worth your time and money.
We recommend thorough research that also includes bonus and promotional offers and an assortment of payment methods. Given most online casinos’ business aspirations are to attract international players, it’s no surprise they put a lot of thought into payment strategies.
The most common payment-related challenges that online casino operators and players faced in the past were security issues, currency exchange costs, and geographic limitations. It’s safe to say a number of these obstacles have been removed due to advances in technology.
Still, gambling sites haven’t given up traditional payment methods while embracing innovation. As a result, the list of commonly available banking options in online casinos are:
- Debit and (in some cases) credit cards
- Prepaid cards
- Direct bank transfers
- E-wallets
- Cryptocurrencies
Emerging Trends in Digital Payments for Online Casinos
Security, ease of use, and accessibility are what people look for when choosing products and services, especially in a digital environment. Such preferences have led to the development of tools in almost all industries including financial.
One of the most visible changes in the online gambling industry is how gambling sites approach payments, focusing on enabling players to deposit and withdraw money as quickly as possible.
Digital wallets, blockchain technology, tokenization, and buy-now-pay-later solutions are the trends we’ll see more and more as part of the payment methods in online casinos.
Digital Wallets
E-wallets attract people due to the anonymity and efficiency they offer. Today, you can find mobile wallets specifically designed for smartphones, but these platforms are available on other devices, like desktop computers, laptops, and tablets.
Digital wallets appeal to casino players as they ensure their financial data is stored in the service provider’s server, thus not exposed to a gambling site. Also, the transactions are fast, and depositing money to a gambling account takes a few minutes.
Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology has grown in popularity thanks to its decentralized nature, which means no bank or government controls it. All data in the blockchain is stored in encrypted digital registries.
Blockchain ensures anonymity and security to users through smart contracts. Smart contracts enable automatic transactions once the predetermined conditions are met, providing time-effectiveness.
Tokenization
Tokenization is another step in making digital payments faster and more secure. They are also used in digital wallets.
Tokenization works in a way that all your financial data is stored in a token used for a given transaction. In the case of online casino payments, your credit card or debit card number is ”hidden” in a token you can easily use to deposit and withdraw money.
Buy-Now-Pay-Later
Online casinos aim to motivate players to visit their sites as frequently as possible. That’s why they offer incentives, like bonuses or points/rewards, for using specific payment methods.
Some have even gone a bit further, offering a buy-now-pay-later option, allowing players to pay certain services/features in instalments instead of paying the entire amount at once.
Cryptocurrency as The Game-Changer in Online Casino Payments
More and more online casinos enable players to bet with cryptocurrencies. We can also see specialized Bitcoin online casinos.
Additionally, it’s not uncommon for a gambling site to create special offers like personalized promotions and access to exclusive games for players who opt for cryptocurrencies.
Anonymity is what defines cryptocurrencies, as they are based on blockchain technology. Although all transactions are recorded on a digital ledger, there’s no information regarding the participants in the transaction.
However, potential higher payment processing fees and the absence of a legal framework protecting users from fraud still make people question the value of this payment option, in our case, for online gambling.
The Impact of Mobile Gaming on Payment Methods
Gone are the days when playing online casino games from the comfort of our homes was the peak. Today, we can play them anywhere on our smartphones. Consequently, numerous online casinos acknowledged this shift and optimized their sites for mobile or created dedicated apps.
All this has encouraged players to use mobile banking. It’s an easy and fast payment option as long as the user follows all the steps for a secure and seamless transaction.
The payments ecosystem will continue to change, and it’s exciting to see what’s next. One thing is sure: service providers are becoming more user-centric, with personalization being the end goal.