Hello eSport and betting fans, and welcome to our newest article! Today we’re going to discuss and analyze the most common and most used payment methods offered by the biggest sportsbooks. This article will inform you and keep you up to date about the advantages and disadvantages each method has over the others, In order for you to decide the one that applies best to your needs.
Currently, there are plenty of payment methods you can use to deposit funds to your eSports betting account, so to make this article a bit more objective and to the point, we’re only going to take a closer and in depth look at the 5 best ways to transfer your money.
In order to rank all the methods available to us, we’re going to consider a number of factors, with the most weight being put on transaction speed, user information security, transaction fees and accessibility to everyone. You’ll quickly realize that there isn’t a perfect payment method. Most of them excel in some ways but are still lacking in others – keep reading below to find out.
The 5 best:
#5 Bank Wire
This method consists of depositing funds to your balance directly from your checking or personal savings account. This kind of transaction usually takes 1 to 3 business days for the bank to process (and your profile is credited the moment it is processed), hence the number 5 spot in our list. Most users look for a faster way to fill up their account with money, and bank wires require you to plan your bets way ahead of time, to make sure you’ll have the available balance to place them.
Although not very agile, this is a very safe way to transfer your funds, especially if you don’t trust the site 100%. Using this process you still expose your bank account info, but at least you don’t have to hand in your credit card information or billing address, or anything of that sort.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is that this procedure is very simple, and your average user who isn’t very tech savvy or knowledgeable about the process can deposit to esports bookie quite easily, without any major obstacles.
All things considered, you should choose the bank wire option if you don’t mind waiting a bit more for your credit on the site, If you don’t trust the service completely (in that case I’d even recommend considering another option to bet with your money) or If you want an easy way to transfer the funds.
#4 PayPal
Paypal has been around the scene for a long time (circa 1998). It’s a company that operates worldwide online payments, serving as an alternative to the traditional cheques and money orders. With their services, users can send and receive funds using only a verified email to signal it. You can also add a credit card to your account but your information isn’t exposed to your client or the service you’re purchasing, making it a very safe way to deposit your money into any esports betting site.
However, PayPal has been losing ground in the current market. This is partly because of their chargeback policy and the way users have been abusing it maliciously – by purchasing goods or sending transfers and then charging it back (and the fees have to be paid by the receiver). This has caused many sites to stop accepting PayPal transfers as a way to add credit to accounts.
Another downside to PayPal’s system is that the fees are very high when compared to the other procedures, making it worse for the customers to use it. Putting all of this together, we can conclude that there are better options out there on the market that do everything Paypal can do, but better. You’ll see them further down the list closer to the top spot.
#3 Credit Cards
This procedure is the most well-known and used in the market nowadays. Partly because practically everyone has a credit card (or even multiple), but also because it’s a very fast way to get funds into your account and start betting right away. Out of all the payment choices available, this one is probably the fastest and most accessible to the user base all around the world.
Judging from the factors we listed on the introduction, credit cards seem to be doing just fine. Why are they only in the #3 spot though? This is mostly because of the security factor. Over the years there have been plenty of cases where people got their cards cloned or their information was stolen through using it online – and there are a huge number of shady sportsbooks functioning nowadays, so if you can, you better use a more secure payment process – preferably one that doesn’t expose a lot of your private and financial information.
Taking all of this into account, this process is still widely recommended for most users – just make sure you’re using it on a very reputable and trustworthy site, to make sure you’re not being set up for any kind of scam. But be wary that even the biggest platforms might get hacked and you can end up with your information exposed, as these companies are heavily targeted by malicious attacks.
#2 Bitcoin
As the runner up, we chose Bitcoin. If you’re not entirely familiar with it, here’s a quick explanation: Bitcoin is a digital currency, created and stored in electronic wallets. It’s a decentralized coin that can be used to transfer funds to anyone and anywhere in the world. As of the time of writing this article, one Bitcoin is worth roughly $4500 USD.
Now that you know what Bitcoin is, let’s see some of its advantages when used to bet on eSports matches. The cryptocurrency is very secure and the transactions are almost anonymous, you don’t even need an email account signed in to send the money you want to wager. This means your information is never exposed on the internet, under any circumstances.
This method is also very fast, and your account can be credited within 10 minutes of you sending the transaction (if you want to read more about how this happens and how it’s possible, I suggest you google and read about the blockchain technology). The time will depend only on the fee you decide to pay for your transfer. Yes, you read it right. You can choose how much you want to pay to send your money around in this system.
This means that this process’ fees can also be very low, the lowest of all the methods in this ranking – but it also means that you won’t get that 10 minute confirmation on your deposit, it could take a while longer, but still not as long as bank wires.
Despite all of the advantages mentioned above, Bitcoin comes in 2nd place because of one detail: Its accessibility. Its growing daily and being adopted by commercial establishments all over the world, but right now the main public and the average internet user are still not aware of this new technology and digital currency. When the time comes and it becomes a well-known asset, it can very easily climb to the #1 position.
#1 Skrill
For the 1st spot, we have Skrill – an electronic wallet that allows you to make instant deposits and withdrawals using your email. This method usually credits your account instantly with funds, in a simple and secure manner.
Skrill employs credit cards, debit cards, bank transfers, cheques and other operations depending on your residency location (there are a variety of rules that apply to one country and not others). By employing such a huge number of ways to charge the users account, Skrill is currently the most accessible e-wallet on the market. There are so many ways to deposit that it’s virtually impossible to find someone wanting to and not being able to use their services.
Once your account has the amount of funds you wish, the transaction to the eSport betting sites is instant – there’s no waiting around. You can deposit and start betting within minutes. This is also a huge advantage Skrill has over the other payment procedures.
In terms of security, Skrill also takes home the trophy. The bookmaker gets none of your information during the transfer, only your email. This means that your personal data will only be exposed in case someone manages to hack Skrill’s database, which is highly unlikely.
For yet another very noticeable perk, the fees are very reasonable and comparable to those of a credit card payment or bank wire (and most of the times it’s even smaller). So if you hadn’t heard about this company before, or haven’t started using their services yet, I suggest you give it a try – you won’t regret it (and probably won’t go back to the traditional methods ever again), as it’s highly accessible, fast, secure and the fees are very competitive in today’s market.
Conclusion
We hope you had a good read and were able to learn a thing or two about the different ways of depositing into your account in most eSports sites. Remember that there isn’t a perfect procedure, so you have to analyze your case and choose what’s best for you in your current situation!
See you in the next article, don’t miss out! Good luck!