The method is accepted at hundreds of online casinos, enabling gamblers to transfer funds domestically or internationally between bank accounts. Wire transfers are a great option for high rollers since they allow them to deposit and withdraw more significant amounts of money.
- Types of Wire Transfers
- Intra and Inter-Bank Transfers
- SWIFT and SEPA Transfers
- What Banking Information is Needed
- Depositing Funds with Wire Transfer
- Wire Transfer Withdrawals
- Fees
- Wire Transfers on Mobile
- Wire Transfers on Mobile
- Wire Transfers' Security
- Casino Games You Can Play
- Advantages of Wire Transfers
- Disadvantages of Wire Transfers
Despite the fact wire transfers suffer from some disadvantages, they remain the best option for players who are reluctant to use the services of third-party payment processors. If you want to know more about how wire transfers actually work, we advise you to continue reading for detailed information on wire transfers’ fees, security, advantages, and disadvantages.
Top Wire Transfer Casinos
Types of Wire Transfers and How They Work
Wire transfers are easily the oldest method of moving money between persons or entities. The method gained transaction on a global scale in the second half of the 19th century following the establishment of Western Union. Back then, the payments were conducted over a telegraph network. A person would drop by the nearest telegraph office where the operator would send a wire message to another telegraph office and authorize the money transfer by using code books and a password.
This is pretty much how these transfers work to this day, only the transaction is no longer “wired” over a telegraph network. If you want to effect a wire transfer to your online casino, you will need to collect some information and possibly visit your bank or the local office of independent money-transfer companies like MoneyGram or Western Union, for example.
Intra and Inter-Bank Transfers
We can distinguish between intra-bank and inter-bank transfers. With intra-bank transfers, both the payee and the beneficiary hold accounts at the same bank while with inter-bank transfers, the sender and the beneficiary have accounts at two different financial institutions, say Lloyds and Barclays.
Most international wire transfers are in fact inter-bank transfers. Since you are most likely gambling at an online casino based outside of your country, you, too, will be dealing with an inter-bank transfer if you opt for this method of payment. In this instance, either a SWIFT and or SEPA transfer is needed to complete the payment.
SWIFT and SEPA Transfers
SWIFT (short for Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) is a financial system that enables banking institutions to send SWIFT messages between each other in order to effect international money transfers.
SWIFT transfers require a higher level of human intervention which additionally slows down the entire process, especially if the two financial institutions have no direct relationship with each other and have to use the services of intermediary banks to complete the money transfer. Keep in mind these mediators will normally deduct fees from your deposited amount for facilitating the international transfer.
SEPA (short for Single Euro Payments Area) transfers facilitates wire (bank) transfers between financial institutions located in 34 European countries. Because of this, the only supported currency for SEPA transfers is the EUR. These resemble domestic money transfers for the most part since most financial institutions that are part of SEPA have established direct relationships with one another. If not, the inter-bank transfer will typically be facilitated with the assistance of a central bank. This is what renders SEPA transfers much faster and affordable fees-wise.
What Banking Information is Needed for Wire Transfers?
To initiate the wire transfer, you will need the banking details of the online casino you are gambling at. These are usually available on the casino’s website or in its cashier but sometimes players might be required to contact customer support to obtain the information needed for the wire transfer.
These bank details normally include the name of the beneficiary (i.e. your online casino), the name of the beneficiary’s bank, the bank’s address, the number of the bank account, its IBAN number, and the SWIFT (BIC) code. Some online casinos have different IBAN numbers for transfers in different currencies. If you hold a bank account in GBP, for instance, make sure you use the IBAN that corresponds to this currency. Of course, the amount you intend to deposit also needs to be specified.
You can go to a local branch of the bank you have an account with and request a wire transfer to be made. Before initiating a wire transfer, you should inform the bank clerk whether it is going to be an international transfer or the receiver is based in the same country. The bank employee will then give you a form where you need to fill in all the details from the above. It is essential to provide correct information about the recipient, otherwise the transaction will not be completed and you will find your money back in your bank account.
Make sure you have sufficient balance in your account. When your balance is insufficient or in the red, the bank may overdraw your account, causing you to incur additional expenses for the overdraft. If you are not sure precisely how much money you have in your account, you can easily ask the bank employee to check this for you before initiating the wire transfer.
Depending on the bank you have an account with, it might not be necessary to go to the physical branch as the wire transfer can be completed from the comfort of your surroundings via your bank’s online banking platform or over the phone. Yet, the latter requires you to identify yourself by answering a secret question you have chosen upon creating your bank account. Wire transfers can also be sent in a local Western Union office where the recipient of the money can be identified via email or a phone number.
Beware that international transfers require a couple of days to be processed. In addition, they appear to be more expensive, so make sure you have sufficient funds in your account.
The transaction is processed via a secure system and the bank the recipient has an account with, receives a notification and needs to make the wire transfer an effective payment. Due to the considerable number of procedures that need to be carried out, the completion of the transaction may take up to several days.
Depositing Funds with Wire Transfer
As mentioned above, the wire transfer is a convenient payment method that enables you to perform international payments. As far as funding of your casino account is concerned, the procedure is quite standard.
You first log into your casino account and open the cashier where you select the wire transfer as your preferred deposit method. You then enter the desired deposit amount. After you confirm it, a page with the banking details of the casino will load including the reference number of your payment. You can print this to take with you at your bank’s local branch where you must fill in the form the bank teller gives you. Make sure you input all the details correctly to prevent any unnecessary delays.
You can also contact a representative of your bank over the telephone to inquire where you can fill in the wire transfer’s form over the internet as sometimes this is also an option. Another alternative is to use telephone banking, in which case you should correctly quote all the banking information to the bank’s employee.
Afterwards, you need to get in touch with your casino’s customer support to let them know you have wired them a payment. After the casino’s bank receives your bank’s wire instruction, the money will be added to your balance.
The processing timeframes depend on the type of bank transfer you order and whether or not it is international or domestic. Some online gambling operators would require you to also provide your casino account number. Skipping on this step is likely to result in further delays.
In our observation, most casinos take between 3 and 5 business days to credit the accounts of wire-transfer depositors. However, this timescale tends to vary between different gambling operators. It would be best to order the transfer on a Monday so that you can have your account credited with the funds within the same week.
Wire Transfer Withdrawals
Most online casinos would allow players to cash out their earnings via wire transfers as well. In fact, this is the standard procedure when someone has deposited via a method that is not supported for withdrawals, like Boku for example. Thankfully, the reverse procedure is not as laborious as depositing. Just make sure you have your bank account and SWIFT numbers close by as these will be needed for the withdrawal.
You simply load the casino’s cashier and select wire transfers as your preferred withdrawal option. Then you enter the sum you want to cash out and fill in all your banking details in the form, including the full name of your financial institution, its full address along with the country and the city’s postal code, your IBAN and SWIFT numbers and your full name exactly the way it was registered with your banking institution.
After it is released from pending, your withdrawal will be completed within a timescale of 5 to 10 business days. You almost certainly will incur additional charges for the wire transfer but more on this in the next section.
What Fees are Associated with Wire Transfers?
Wire transfers are a last resort for many online casino players due to the larger processing fees they entail. These transfers are indeed expensive as you might end up paying between $10 and $50 to top up your casino account. It should be specified that many trusted online casinos do not charge customers for deposits conducted via wire transfers. The charges we have listed above are on behalf of banking institutions and respectively, would vary depending on which bank whose services you use.
What’s even more unpleasant with wire transfers is that some gambling operators may charge you extra for returning your earnings with this method. The fee would again differ between online casinos but rarely would exceed $50 per transaction, which is no small amount on its own. With some casinos, you may end up incurring higher fees when making wire transfers that exceed a certain amount. If you are unsure about the charges, contacting the customer support would be the best course of action.
If you cannot put up with these high charges we advise you to conduct a research to find a more budget-friendly deposit option. Feel free to check some of the other payment methods we, at Casino Deposit, have posted about to explore other alternatives.
Wire Transfers on Mobile
Most online casinos would allow you to initiate a wire transfer while on the move, using either your smartphone or your tablet. There are generally two options for iOS and Android mobile users – installing the casino’s native app, if available, or loading the website in the browser. This way you are granted access to the casino’s cashier wherever you go.
The procedure of initiating a wire transfer on the move is no different than doing so on your desktop computer. You log in, specify the amount of the desired deposit, and are given the banking details of your casino. You can make the transfer via your bank’s online banking platform or over the telephone. Of course, if you happen to be near your bank, you can always drop by to fill in the form in person.
Wire Transfers’ Security
Despite the aforementioned disadvantages, like long processing timeframes and high fees, the truth is wire transfers are among the safest payment methods for online casino players. No confidential information is shared with third parties and even the recipient cannot see sensitive bank details.
Practically, only your bank and that of your casino are involved in the transactions’ processing.
In addition, bank wire transfers minimize the risks of identity thefts because your sensitive information is not shared with anyone but your online casino of choice. Banks themselves take the strictest of measures to protect their clients’ money and transactions. Their websites are always protected with advanced and impossible-to-break encryptions and so are these of reputed online casinos.
While we are at it, you have to make sure the casino you deposit money to is reliable and safe enough in order to protect yourself from fraud. It is always a good idea to first confirm your chosen online casino’s authenticity before you proceed to initiate any payments there. Check the casino’s website for licensing information to make certain the operator is regulated by a respected authority. These regulators ensure their licensees adhere to their guidelines which often include having valid encryption certifications and keeping players’ funds in a separate account to protect them against a potential casino insolvency.
What Casino Games Can Wire-Transfer Depositors Play?
- Online slots – 3-reel slots, video slots, 3D slots, and progressive jackpot slots
- Blackjack – Single-Deck Blackjack, Blackjack Surrender, Blackjack Switch, Duel Blackjack, Perfect Pairs, All Bets Blackjack, Double Exposure, Spanish 21, Super Fun 21, Pontoon, Atlantic City, Vegas Downtown, Vegas Strip, and Live Blackjack
- Video poker – Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Aces and Faces, Aces and Eights, Tens or Better, Joker Poker, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, 2 Ways Royal, All American Poker, and more
- Roulette – American, European, and French Roulette, Mini Roulette, Spread-Bet Roulette, 1001 Diamond Bet Roulette, Multi-Wheel Roulette, Double Ball Roulette, 3D Roulette, Age of the Gods Progressive Roulette, and Live Roulette
- Other table games – craps, baccarat, Sic Bo, Pai Gow Poker, Casino Hold’em, Caribbean Stud, Hi-Lo, and Red Dog
Advantages of Wire Transfers
This method is rather widespread across online casinos and most people are familiar with how it works since they inevitably have wired money at one point or another. Also, you can wire a deposit in any currency supported by the casino so at least you will save on currency conversion fees.
Security is a major factor which attracts some players. Sensitive information is practically not shared with anyone but the banks involved in the transaction. Banking institutions take their customers’ safety very seriously, protecting them with state-of-the-art technology intended to hinder any fraudulent attempts. There is no risk of identity thefts, either, since only the bank and your casino have access to your personal information.
The biggest appeal of the wire transfer is that it allows larger sums to be deposited into one’s account, with some casinos allowing for up $100,000 deposits with this solution. This undoubtedly works to the advantage of high rollers.
Disadvantages of Wire Transfers
Wire transfers are not particularly convenient, especially if one does not have an online banking account and has to visit their bank in person each time. Many players will be put off by all the hassles surrounding the collection of the information, needed to make a wire transfer. If you input even a single digit incorrectly, the transfer will not go through and your visit to the bank would be for naught.
And then come the fat fees associated with this type of money transfer. Unlike most other methods, here players are likely to be charged both when they send and when they receive money, not to mention some people would not be willing to potentially pay up $50 in extra charges. The method is considerably slower than most other payment options at online casinos taking up to 10 business days sometimes.
