Comparison of two popular casino banking methods, PayPal and bank transfer.
Anyone who’s spent any amount of time at online gambling sites knows that there are a multitude of casino banking methods available. Knowing which is best can be a test of trial and error, or a tedious amount of time in research.
One thing the majority of experienced players look for is a single method that can facilitate both deposits and withdrawals. Unfortunately, this eliminates a lot of otherwise convenient casino banking options, like credit cards, prepaid cards and eChecks (ACH).
Among the methods that do offer two-way casino banking are bank transfers and online payment processors (aka ‘eWallets‘). Payment processors do have their advantages, and come in several forms, like Neteller, PayPal and Skrill, to name a few. But not all eWallets are created equal.
In many cases, it’s a payment processor’s reputation that elevates them to the top of the totem pole. And in that regard, PayPal reigns supreme among the global eWallet industry. Thus we’ll compare the benefits and drawbacks of bank transfers and PayPal.
Casino Banking: PayPal vs Bank Transfer
Here we’ll compare four very important aspects of casino banking. These include fees, the time it takes to receive a withdrawals, security issues, and overall availability.
FEES
The most significant difference between these two popular casino banking methods is the price. Bank transfers can be costly. The fees will vary from one bank to the next, but they’re never cheap. My bank charges $30 to send an international transfer, and another $18 to receive one.
PayPal does not charge anything to send a payment, but does charge user’s for receiving a payment. They are always percentage based, but will vary depending on the size of the transfer. For example, receiving a chasout from a Malta-based casino website to a Canadian PayPal account, in an amount between $0.01-$3,000, will cost 3.9% of the transfer. The fee decreases slightly with each higher increment.
But comparatively speaking, if you were to withdrawal CAD $3,000, you would be charged $117. Even a $1,000 cashout would cost $39. Bank transfers don’t seem so expensive now, do they?
For depositing, I would actually recommend using eChecks (ACH) to make deposits, since they still go directly through the bank, but cost about 80%-90% less than international transfers. Then, you can employ a cheaper direct bank transfer for withdrawals.
TIME
PayPal payments are instant, both for deposits and withdrawals (minus a casino’s average 24-48hr processing time). However, once that money hits your PayPal account, you’ll probably want to transfer it back to your bank, so there’s another 3-4 business days. Alternatively, you can apply for a PayPal ATM card and withdrawal the cash immediately from most ATMs.
Depositing with bank transfer (or ACH) is also instant, but the withdrawal time can be much slower. Depending on the bank, and the origin of the payment, it can take anywhere from 3 to 14 days for the money to arrive.
SECURITY
So many people argue that PayPal is more secure than bank transfers. You won’t have to give your credit/debit/banking details to the online casino – true. However, you will have to give those same details to PayPal, and then give the casino your PayPal address.
Is it really safer to expose this information through PayPal than a casino? You can be the judge of that. What I do know is that all reputable, licensed casino operators are under regulatory requirement to utilize the exact same security and encryption methods used by government banks.
So long as the operator is a reputable one, either casino banking method is going to uphold the highest possible security standards. One is really no better than the other.
AVAILABILITY
Here’s where bank transfers beat out PayPal by leaps and bounds. PayPal is only available on a few select gambling websites, and only in certain countries. Bank transfers are available everywhere.
