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Online Casino Deposit Methods for US Players

With the US being so customer centric, you might think that there are a huge number of ways to fund your online casino account. But a 2006 law put an end to that. Not only are there few places from where you can gamble online, but it's not so easy to fund your casino games.

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Introduction: Online Casino Deposit Methods for US Players

Finding online casino deposit methods should be a walk in the woods in the US. So you’d think. But things are not that simple. If you go online to play at the casino, you’ll find any number of ways by which you can add funds to your account. In fact, in most nations, you’ll find there’s always some obscure method available in case a more common one isn’t offered. But woe to the US. The selection in the Land of the Free is very limited. The US enjoyed extremely strict banking laws when dealing with online gambling. And this makes receiving deposits at the online casino an uphill struggle. To put it mildly. You can read more about online betting in the US here.

This article will take a look into the various methods that are possible to fund your casino account in the US.

Why Does the UIGEA Make Casino Deposits Difficult?

The obvious answer is because the country is run by fear of the unknown. And a bunch of pussies. In 2006, Congress passed the SAFE Port Act. In typically corrupt American fashion, this bill was to see another smaller bill attached to it, which had nothing to do with the original bill, yet served some special interest group. As a result, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was attached to the SAFE Port Act. This latter act made is illegal for the gambling industry to accept payments that could have come from unlawful wages. Thanks to this law, many gambling companies have been prosecuted as well as payment processing companies.

Credit cards, bank transfers and wire transfers (like Western Union) all fall under the UIGEA. All these companies have a legal obligation to screen out gambling transactions or face serious consequences. This law really ended crippling the whole online US gambling industry. But all is not lost. Offshore casinos are still able to give Uncle Sam the finger and connect with their customers. But it’s a fact that it’s now much more difficult to deposit funds at any online casino. You can’t even use your credit card with any ease anymore.

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What Are the Best US Online Casino Deposit Methods?

Due to UIGEA, no US-based online casino can offer a wide variety of deposit options. Also, financial intermediaries refuse to serve online casinos. Let’s have a look at the deposit methods still open to US players.

Bitcoin (BTC)

As a cryptocurrency for peer to peer transactions, the UIGEA has no authority over BTC. As you know, it’s completely decentralized and therefore not controlled by either governments or banks. To that end, it’s the perfect payment option for online casino punters. But there is a downside. And that’s the coins extreme volatility. You can experience a 10% drop or rise within just one day. This isn’t a good feeling to see that your bankroll has just lost all that value. It’s the fees that are being paid to miners along with market use that lead to higher fees when the network is busy. But even with these drawbacks, we would certainly have no problem as recommending this as the best form of payment. The main reason being that BTC isn’t under the control of US laws.

Visa & MasterCard

Of course, these are the favorite method of payment around the world. Also, they’re the top credit cards when it comes to gambling. But the negatives here will make their use unreliable. Though they offer instant funding of your online casino account, and they’re welcome at all gambling sites, the problem is one of dependability. They screen deposits. And over half of all deposits are rejected. Also, they don’t need to be right about it or give a reason. This makes their use exceedingly frustrating. You just can’t depend on your funds making it through into your account. It’s difficult to play jackpot bingo or jackpot poker if you can’t be certain of your bank-roll appearing.

Prepaid Card

If you don’t want to use your credit card, or maybe don’t have one, then this is a great way to load your casino account. Paysafecard is one of the most-commonly available prepaid card services. But there is the extra process of having to go an get one. They are available at all convenience stores across the US. But you’ll have to haul your lardy ass over to the store in order to buy and charge the card with funds. Also keep in mind that you can’t load these cards with a large number of funds, with many maxing out at $500. If you’re a low-roller, then all well and good. But such a small amount will stop you from enjoying many welcome bonuses and promotions where your freebies are equal to your deposit amount.

But on the positive side, you don’t have to worry about any third party refusing your card. Also, there’s the advantage that you can remain completely anonymous.

Gift Cards

These work in the same manner as using a pre-paid card. You can buy these online and then load them up. The real drawback here is that only one gift card is really acceptable, and that’s the MST Giftcard. You’ll have to search out online casinos that’ll accept them, and then there’s a series of hoops to jump through before getting your funds onto the card. So the main advantage is that you can buy them from the comfort of your sofa. The negative is that, like prepaid cards, there’s a pretty low limit on the number of funds that you can charge the cards.

E-wallets

Whereas we’re used to paying with all things via Neteller, Skrill, and PayPal, you can forget about these if you’re State’s side. PayPay is the most widely used payment method in the US for moving money between traders and bank accounts, but the company wants nothing to do with online gambling. Neteller and Skrill were in common use for online gambling before 2006, but after UIGEA was brought into force, they dumped the US market completely. We should point out that E-wallets like Neteller and Skrill are available in certain states where gambling is regulated, like Delaware and New Jersey. But they’re not legal for the vast majority of Americans. It’s a shame, as E-wallets are by far the easiest means of moving funds for online gambling.

Will Americans Ever Have Access to More Options?

The short answer is “no”. What’s holding up the party are the legal hurdles. Though the country is slowly opening up to more legalized gambling, the process is proving extremely slow. For example, it’ll probably be at least another 10 years before even 10 states are able to offer legal online casinos. All the above methods would be happy to jump at the business opportunities bought about with online casino gambling, but right now their hands are tied by all sorts of draconian regulations.

Conclusion: Online Casino Deposit Methods

In Europe, players have any means by which to top up their deposits at online casinos. But the States is far, far behind. For a start, there are only very few online casinos to choose from, let alone a tiny number of methods to transfer funds. Even options like credit cards are not reliable anymore. In truth, all the methods we’ve covered are not perfect. But we would probably go with BTC. The fact that it’s decentralized and simply works 100% of the time, is good enough for us. In truth, these crazy market fluctuations are only occurring on a few days each year. So that’s no reason to be put off.

If you find BTC too technical, then you can always fall back on credit cards. Just keep in mind that you’re probably going to be rejected around half the time. It’s a pain, but there are very few options for US players. And it doesn’t look as though it’s going to improve in the near future. You can find reviews of the best online casinos with jackpots here.