Online Casino Banking Options and Deposit Methods
If you check out the website of any online casino, you can usually dig around until you find a list of banking options or deposit methods. Any of the methods you find listed on a reputable casino’s website are good methods but some are easier to use than others.
Players from the US usually have a more limited selection of banking options but luckily that list has grown over time. The most common deposit method for US players is the credit card but even that can be a pain because those deposits are occasionally blocked by credit card companies. In that case, US players have to deposit via other methods that may not be as familiar.
In the hopes of making everything a bit clearer, here is a list of the most common deposit methods and how they work. There are new methods coming out all the time and there are literally hundreds of options out there but these are the most common:
US Deposit Methods
Visa / MasterCard / American Express - Credit card transactions are the easiest and most highly recommended deposit option for American casino players. These transactions are occasionally declined but that doesn’t cause any problems for you other than having to find a new deposit method.
eWalletXpress - eWalletXpress is a great e-wallet that’s perfect for US players who can’t or don’t want to use their credit cards to make deposits. You can transfer your money to and from eWalletXpress instantly and fund it directly with your bank account.
UseMyWallet - UseMyWallet is a trusted, invitation-only money transfer service. You can get an invitation from your online casino by signing up and e-mailing your casino for an invitation. Once you get UseMyWallet set up, you’ll be able to move money around online casinos with ease.
QuickTender - QuickTender is a part of UseMyWallet so anywhere you see the UseMyWallet logo, you can also use QuickTender. This company works almost identically to UseMyWallet because it offers quick and easy deposit and withdrawal solutions to players from around the world.
Instant eChecks - This payment solution isn’t an option for US players at very many casinos but it’s a great option where it is available. Instant eChecks are basically checks that write using your computer or phone. Most of the casinos that accept this method require that you make one successful deposit with a different payment method before allowing you to use Instant eChecks.
Prepaid Debit/Credit Cards - Even if your credit card gets blocked, you can use prepaid debit cards to make a deposit as your favorite casino. Make sure you check with your casino first to make sure you purchase the correct prepaid debit card brand.
Cash Transfer - Cash transfers are easy and fast ways to transfer money to and from online casinos. What you have to do is call or e-mail your favorite casino site for instructions on where to send the money and how to address it. After that, you can visit any local cash transfer station to send your money or receive your withdrawal.
Worldwide Non-US Deposit Methods
NETeller - NETeller is the best online casino funding method for non-US players. The company has been in business for years and is very simple and easy to use. You can transfer your money to and from NETeller without a hassle and be playing in no time at all.
Credit Cards - Credit cards are easy and simple deposit methods. All you have to do is visit the casino cashier, choose this method and follow the simple directions on the screen.
Click2Pay - This is an online money wallet just like NETeller. You can fund your Click2Pay account with your regular bank account and use Click2Pay to make deposits and move money around between casinos. This is one of the fastest-growing payment options and it is well trusted by casino players around the world.
Moneybookers / Fire Citadel / Firepay - These three companies are all separate but I bunched them together because they all basically work in the same way. These companies are all e-wallets that you can use to fund your favorite casino and move your money around. It’s easy to get started at any one of these sites so I recommend you check one of them out today if you’re ready to do some online gambling.
These non-US deposit methods are the most popular options you have but they are just the tip of the iceberg. There are lots of other deposit methods but they are more country-specific so I won’t get into them all today.
It’s easier if you just remember that any deposit option you see at a major online casino is a safe bet. Online casinos want your business so they only pick the best and most trustworthy payment options.
Nickel Slots Tournaments
Online slots tournaments are becoming more and more popular every day because slot tournaments are a great way to turn what is normally a solitary game into a social game. In online nickel slot tournaments you pay a fixed buyin fee to participate and then get a certain amount of time and free credits to play as many spins as you can.
As you progress through the tournament, your winning credits are tallied up separately and then recorded at the end of the tournament. The top players with the most winning credits win the prize money.
Not only are slots tournaments a lot of fun but they also constitute one of the best forms of online casino bankroll management. Before you enter a slots tournament, you always know exactly how much money you’re going to spend and that’s it. You don’t get to keep your winning credits but you do get the chance to get in a lot of playing time and possibly win a bunch of money.
There really isn’t a lot of strategy involved in slot tournaments so everyone has a chance to win. It’s an equal playing field for everyone involved so slots tournaments are light-hearted events with an emphasis on everyone having a good time.
If you want to give yourself the greatest chances of winning, there are still a few things you can do to improve your odds. The most important thing you can do is stay focused and pay attention to your job at all times.
Your job during a slots tournament is to spin the reels as fast as you can. There’s no need to mash the button to smithereens but you do need to be quick to tap the spin button every time. You only get a certain amount of time to get in as many spins as possible so it pays to make the most of your time at the slot machine.
It’s easy to get distracted during slots tournaments by trying to keep track of who’s winning what and looking over at people celebrating big wins. Those distractions don’t mean anything because you can’t do anything about them to improve your odds. Just stick to the job at hand - getting in as many spins as you can before the clock stops ticking.
Speaking of celebrations, you should keep the celebrating to a minimum. Don’t let big wins distract you from getting your spins in. The biggest wins in the world don’t mean a thing if you take too long and don’t hit the minimum required number of spins. You need to keep at it and do all the celebrating after you actually win the tournament.
When the tournament is over, stay at your slot and listen for the next round of instructions from the tournament director. You’ll usually be asked to remain at your slot until your score is recorded. A lot of the time you’ll be asked to initial your score total so there aren’t any disputes after the winners are announced.
Last of all, don’t forget to have a good time. Slots tournaments are there for you to have fun. They give you the rare opportunity to spin as much as you want without worrying about spending a lot of money. All you need to do is cough up the buyin fee and you’re good to go.
Slots Bankroll Management
Slot machines are based entirely on chance so there’s not a whole lot you can do to increase your odds of winning. Using a smart bankroll strategy, however, will help your money last the longest and give you the most bang for your buck.
The main thing to remember when playing slots (or any casino game for that matter) is to choose an amount you’re willing to bet and set that money aside. If you’re unfortunate enough to burn through that bankroll, you have to make yourself stop playing. Casino gaming is all fun and games until you start playing with money you need for other things.
Once you choose an amount to play with, you’ll then want to adjust your slots play based on the amount of money you have set aside in your slots bankroll. If you want to keep your money in play the longest, you’ll want to make the smallest bets possible.
There’s no specific amount you have to bet on every spin but keep in mind that the bigger your bets are, the more likely it is you’ll go broke. If you have a $100 bankroll, for example, and want to bet $50 per spin, the odds are pretty high that you’ll burn through your bankroll fairly quickly - unless you hit a jackpot early on.
There are several betting systems you can use to help keep your winnings in your pocket longer. As long as you recognize that these betting systems don’t increase your odds of winning in any way, there’s nothing wrong with using betting systems at online slot machines.
One system slots players is a progression system that increases your bets by one coin every time you win and decreases your bet by one coin every time you lose.
A second system is one that decreases your bet by one coin every time you win and increases your bet by one coin every time you lose. The purpose of this system is to try to catch up on your losses by making bigger bets the next spin.
It’s important that you remember these betting systems will never increase your odds of winning. Lots of casino players will try to tell you they have secret betting systems that are guaranteed to make you a winner at the casino. These betting systems are usually a variation of one of the two above systems. They make your time more interesting at the casino but they don’t actually affect the odds of the game.
One other important thing to keep in mind is that with slot machines you usually have to bet the maximum amount every spin to have a chance at winning the biggest jackpots. If you want to play within your bankroll and still have a shot at the big jackpots, you can decrease your coin amount and still bet the maximum number of coins each spin.
Slot machines are a lot of fun and if you play according to a smart bankroll management philosophy, you’ll be able to maximize your time at the casino. In addition to that, you’ll be able to play without the stress of playing with money you can’t afford. And if you’re lucky enough to hit a multi million dollar jackpot, remember where you read about slots bankroll management. Good luck!
Common Slot Machine Myths
There’s nothing wrong with being a little superstitious but some of the slot myths out there can get downright annoying. Some of them might even be costing you money! Some of these myths apply to both online and live casinos while others just apply to live casinos. Either way, it’s always good to go in armed with all the knowledge you can get.
1. Slots that haven’t hit a jackpot for a long time are due to hit any time now
This myth is a perfect example of the Gambler’s Fallacy which affects every game in the casino to some extent. Basically, this myth is based in the belief that as one outcome in a random event occurs repeatedly, the other outcome is more likely to occur in the future.
For example, if you toss a coin and it lands on tails 8 times in a row, you’d be falling into Gambler’s Fallacy if you thought it was more than 50% likely to land on heads on the next flip.
Slot machines, coins and every other fair casino game out there are based on independently random events. The slot machine doesn’t remember who hit the last jackpot and the coin doesn’t remember what side it landed on last time. Every event is independent and has the same chance of happening again no matter what previous outcomes were.
A slot machine that paid out a jackpot on the last spin is still just as likely to pay out a jackpot on the very next spin. There’s nothing you can do to change the odds so don’t waste your time looking for machines that haven’t paid out recently.
2. You would have hit the jackpot that someone else just hit on your last machine if you would have kept playing.
You can breathe a sigh of relief because this is one super false myth. Slot machines are equipped with random number generators (RNGs) that determine where the wheels stop. These RNGs cycle through thousands of numbers a second so the odds that you would have activated the slot machine at the same exact nanosecond as that other person are infinitesimal.
3. If you study a slot machine closely enough, you can determine patterns in the outcome that will make it possible for you to predict the next spin.
Nope. Refer to the above myth for a quick lesson on RNGs. The computer chips inside a slot machine are so good at developing random numbers that there’s no way you could ever predict the next spin at a slot machine. If that was possible, casinos wouldn’t have slot machines.
4. Casinos can control how loose or tight a slot machine is
This is wrong for live casinos and also for most online casinos. The factories and software developers set the payout rate of the slot machines before shipping them out. The casino has no access to the computer chip or ability to program the payout percentages. On top of that, all reputable casinos are regularly tested for randomness and fair payout percentages.
5. There is nothing you can do to increase your odds of winning
Incorrect! You can increase your odds of winning by doing a little homework before you hit the casino. Research the casino, find out which slot machines it has and then research those slot machines. You’ll be able to find the slot machines that have the highest payout rates and save yourself a little money.
There’s nothing you can do to gain an edge over the casino but at the very least you can play at the machines that have the lowest house advantage. Your money will last longer and you’ll be more likely to walk away a winner.
Online Slots Strategy
Slot machines are inherently designed to give the casino an advantage over the long run so there’s no perfect slots strategy out there you can use to gain an edge over the house. There are, however, certain measures you can take to give yourself the best chances of winning and get the highest payouts possible.
1. Play within your bankroll
The most important thing you keep in mind when playing online slots is to have a bankroll set aside for playing slots. This strategy alone will save you a lot of trouble over the long run because it will ensure that you never spend money you can’t afford. It’s always nice to win but it’s never guaranteed. By keeping that in mind, you’ll be able to get the most enjoyment out of your time at the casino.
2. Bet the maximum number of coins
One of the best strategies you can use to maximize your wins is to always bet the maximum number of coins possible. You can set your coin size to anything you want but if you always bet the maximum number of coins, you’ll qualify for the biggest jackpots. The progressive jackpots for slot machines can reach nearly $1,000,000 at times but in order to qualify for those jackpots, you’ll need to bet the maximum number of coins per spin.
3. Check the pay tables
It also pays to check the pay tables of your favorite online slot machines before playing. Some slot machines offer more payouts and bigger bonuses than others. All the information you need can be found right at the slot machine
4. Use sign up bonuses to your advantage
Online casinos offer huge sign up bonuses to new players. These bonuses offer free cash you can use to get more spins than you would normally get with a normal deposit.
Slots Oasis offers a 400% bonus up to $4,000 for all new players. This means that they will quadruple your first deposit up to a maximum of $4,000. That’s a lot of extra cash that requires nothing more than for you to sign up at the casino and make your first deposit.
5. Take advantage of bonus rounds
Online slots have bonus rounds that will get you extra cash, special prizes and free spins. The iSlots games at ThisIsVegas.com have some of the best bonus rounds that are based on skill more than pure luck.
The “Hole in Won” slot machine at ThisIsVegas even has bonus rounds where you get to play miniature golf. Not only are these bonus rounds a lot of fun but they can also be quite profitable if you perform well.
6. Don’t waste your money on “fool proof” slots systems
For as long as gambling has been around, people have tried to sell so-called fool proof betting systems that guarantee you to win money from the casino. These systems don’t work and are just a waste of time and money.
If any of these systems actually worked, do you really think people would be willing to sell them for a mere $49.95? And even if they did work, and someone was willing to sell the secrets, do you think the casinos would still be in business offering the same games after all these years?

