All You Need to Know About Real Money Entertainment Online

If you’re a fan of card games, casino tables, sports betting or other diversions, you have surely explored your options with real cash at a brick-and-mortar gambling destinations or bookmakers. On the other hand, there is a whole world of real money fun online, and we would love to help you in getting familiar with the best casinos, sports sites and other for-money gaming hosts out there, whether you are a fan of Bingo, money trading, slot machines, or other gambling exploits.

The online entertainment and gaming market is huge and getting bigger by the year as new, innovative feats in graphics and trends take over. That’s why we’ve put together detailed insights into the most prominent sub-industries of the online gambling landscape, so stick around for exhaustive information on how to choose wisely and make the most out of your online experience.

Topics to Explore

There are many ways to play for real cash online – the market caters to virtually everyone from absolute newbies to seasoned players or traders, and the variety is impressive. Nevertheless, involving your hard-earned cash online comes with certain risks and a thorough look at the available possibilities is necessary in order to make the best decision on where to take your money next. Our site focuses on helping you do exactly that – so let’s start with introducing the biggest real money industry sectors in the UK.

Gaming Segments by Popularity

Thanks to the aforementioned diversity in online gaming, there truly is something for everyone – even if you don’t enjoy casino games, poker, betting or trading. In fact, there is a segment of many fun games for money that don’t necessarily fall into any of the previous categories, but are very sought after nevertheless. For instance, Bingo is massively popular due to how easy it is to get into and how low the deposit threshold lies. Then there are others such as Keno, scratch cards, Deal or No Deal, as well as numerous ways to take part in the lottery online. Nevertheless, the four market giants remain clearly visible on the online landscape, as you can see in the following graphic reflecting the market 2015.

Overview of the Most-Used Payment Methods

If you’re playing for keeps and with a winning goal in mind, you will have to invest real funds into your online experience and try to turn your deposits into payouts. There are plenty of ways to deal with finances while gambling online – the mechanisms for depositing and withdrawing have had to adapt to main consumer trends are therefore very diverse as well. Let’s have a look at some of the most common money transfer schemes in online sports betting, casino, poker and other real cash games.

E-Wallets

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If you’d like to have increased privacy protection combined with ease of use and a fast processing time, using an e-wallet service might just be the right choice for you. Even though these payment methods are nowhere near as common as the good old debit card, services such as Paypal, Skrill and Neteller have enjoyed a steady increase in use by many fans of online gambling (not to mention a huge bump in other online consumer sectors). Due to the fact that these services serve as a secondary payment source, your account information is protected, as is your identity, making you less susceptible to fraud and identity theft. An additional benefit is being able to use e-wallets in various currencies – which is especially handy for trading fans!

Prepaid Cards

Another handy option for online money transactions are prepaid cards, which also enjoy a quick processing and are therefore ideal for gambling, betting or trading. As the name suggests, these card must be pre-loaded in order to be used, either through a primary account or with cash. These cards are good for consciously limiting one’s spending, while some may even offer some cashback rewards. The most common prepaid tool in the UK is Paysafecard, which is accepted in many online casinos, betting, and gambling sites. You might, of course find other accepted prepaid options, including an occasional option for a particular site’s own prepaid system, such as NetBet’s Ecard.

Bank Transfer

A more traditional approach to moving money online would be sticking to the old-fashioned bank transfer, also referred to as wire transfer by many. This involves sending and receiving money directly from and into your account – so, depending on the type of provider you are dealing with, this method may be used for both deposits and withdrawals. You also enjoy a bigger privacy – as you don’t disclose your personal information to any website apart from your online banking. Nevertheless, some fees may apply for this method – so do make sure to read the fine print before you get into the gambling mode.

Using Real Money Online: Things to Consider

Now that you have an overview of online transaction types, we’d like to make sure you know what to look for in choosing the best platform for online gambling and entertainment involving real money deposits.

Secure Payments

It is natural to look at online money transaction services with a certain degree of scrutiny– especially if it involves the cash you work for on the daily! That being said, there may be a few bad apples out there when it comes to online gambling hosts, so it is indeed always a good idea to double check the operator’s encryption standards and data protection policy to make sure that your financial and personal information is handled in utmost confidentiality! Watch out for software seals guaranteeing trusted encryption methods – usually displayed visibly on every reputable site – and play with confidence that your deposits and withdrawals are safe and secure. The good news is, online payments are far from being a ‘new trend’; this type of money movement has become so commonplace that regular oversight and therefore secure handling is a given with the majority of online vendors in any market! In the graphic below you can see wich payment types lead the online payment pack and can observe the growing trend of carrying out payments on the mobile phone  – an increasingly attractive medium due to its convenience and speed.

Reputable Entertainment Platform Knowing your money is handled by a responsible gambling partner goes hand in hand with knowing that the operator of your choice is indeed a legitimate and reliable one. To avoid any unpleasant surprises such as phishing or scams, you ought to make sure to select a provider that has got all the necessary registrations and licensing by an authorised regulatory body in the right jurisdiction. With UK-based operators you will encounter the UK Gambling Commission seal, often accompanied by approvals from a Malta or Gibraltar-based licensing organisations. This information, as well as seals of approval from any monitoring bodies such as GLI or TST, should be displayed clearly on the operator’s homepage, and further details on what regulatory measures are in place can be found on the websites of the licensing and regulatory bodies.

Different Currencies While UK-based online gambling operators conduct their transactions in pounds, there may be some situations where you deal with a different currency – for instance in poker or trading. In cases of cross-currency transactions, the current (i.e. day-specific) exchange rate will apply to the conversion.