Prepaid Gaming/Gift Card Casinos

Choosing a convenient payment method for online casino gaming can be a hard task, but Gift Cards might help make your decision a bit easier. Gift Cards, also known as Prepaid Gaming, aren’t a traditional payment method by any means, but they do offer excellent benefits when online casinos are in question. They’re easy to obtain, they secure your anonymity, and they come in different forms! If you’re considering using this option for your next online casino venture, you might want to learn more about it. What are Gift Cards and why use them as your online casino payment method?

About Gift Cards

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact origin of Gift Cards, but it’s safe to say that they’ve been around for a long time now. Way back in the 1930s, an iteration of this option appeared throughout stores everywhere. In these early beginnings, they were called gift certificates and could be used to purchase items from specific brands and locations. Things haven’t changed much since then. Modern Gift Cards work as prepaid vouchers that you can use at specific store locations or brands. These days, they can be used in physical shops or online.

It’s safe to say that Gift Cards come in all shapes and sizes. They’ve become a popular way of giving customers store credit, so as you can imagine, most brands offer Gift Cards and Gift Vouchers in one form or another. Naturally, this doesn’t mean that all Gift Cards can be used in online casinos. Since most operators try to run a tight ship, they only accept gift cards from the most widespread and recognizable brands out there. Among others, these include e-commerce stores like Amazon, VISA, and physical shops like Target.

The use of Gift Cards on online gambling sites is surprisingly a new venture that not many operators have taken up yet. As of right now, only a few online casinos accept this payment method, but the benefits of using it are pretty up there. Because of this, we don’t doubt that their popularity will spread in the future. The biggest reason online casino fans like them is privacy. Since Gift Cards act like most other prepaid cards, they don’t come with any personal info attached. You can buy one that suits your needs and use it at an online casino without sharing private banking details. Their easy access also doesn’t hurt. Not only are various Gift Cards available in local stores worldwide, but you can find many of them online as well.

Getting Started

Before you start using Gift Cards as your go-to payment option in the largest online gambling venues, you should learn more about their most common types. Currently, these include open-loop Gift Cards and closed-loop Gift Cards.

Open-loop Gift Cards are the less popular option of the two. They work similarly to traditional bank cards, and they’re accepted in most places. As you can probably guess, you can reload these cards with funds and use them to pay in various shops and online casinos. The other type is the more popular one. Closed-loop Gift Cards are the ones most people think about when they hear the term. These usually only work at specific stores and consist of one-time payments.

Now that you know what types of Gift Cards you can get your hands on, here’s how you can get started with them. The easiest way to obtain a Gift Card is either by visiting a local store or searching for one online. Once you find one in an amount that suits you, all you have to do is purchase it, and you’re good to go! If the online casino of your choice accepts Gift Cards, the process of depositing should be pretty familiar to you. Enter the Gift Card information required, and you should be done within a few minutes.

It’s worth noting that most Gift Cards have pretty long expiration periods, with the most common one being five years. Thanks to this, you can use the card at your own pace instead of rushing to deposit it all in one sitting. Additionally, you can deposit the full Gift Card amount at once or in bits and pieces that make sense for your gameplay. Keep this in mind and work at your own pace.

How to Make a Deposit with Gift Cards at an Online Casino

The number of online casinos accepting Gift Cards isn’t that big yet. Because of this, you might need to invest some time into finding a high-quality operator that accepts this payment method. The good news is, the process of depositing via Gift Cards is pretty easy once you find one!

Here are the steps you’ll need to take if you want to make a Gift Card deposit at an online casino:

1. Check if the casino accepts Gift Cards in the operator’s Deposits/Cashier/Banking page.
2. When the pop-up opens, enter the required gift card information to start the process (Gift Card number, security code, expiry date, etc.).
3. Enter the amount you wish to deposit (you can enter the full Gift Card amount or just a portion of it).
4. Confirm the transaction and wait for the money to arrive on your account balance.

How to Make a Withdrawal

Since most Gift Cards work like prepaid cards, they don’t usually come with the option to make a withdrawal. Luckily, some gift cards, such as a VISA Gift Card, do offer withdrawals as well! The process of withdrawing through your Gift Card is practically identical to depositing, with the difference of having to visit other sub-pages on the casino website. While having this option can be pretty convenient, it’s good to keep in mind that it can incur hefty fees. If you want to avoid this, it’s best to go for a different withdrawal method.

Applicable Fees

The lack of fees when depositing is arguably one of the best things about using Gift Cards as your primary payment option. Since these work as prepaid cards, the amount preloaded onto the card is what you’ll be seeing on your casino balance in most cases.

You might not run into fees when depositing with this method, but withdrawals are a different story. As we’ve mentioned, when withdrawing with a Gift Card is possible, it usually comes with hefty fees attached to it.

Accepted & Restricted Countries

Gift Cards are pretty universal, so it’s hard to say if they fall under any restrictions. What makes things even messier is that Gift Cards can be issued by many different shops and services. Depending on the restrictions a specific shop or service faces, the Gift Card should fall into the same boat.

One thing we can say for certain is that most Gift Cards are accepted in countries like the USA and Canada. Since most popular Gift Card providers come from shops and services in that region, they’re available to players hailing from them. Things get a bit trickier when Australia and Europe come into play. Gift Cards from providers like VISA have a pretty wide reach, but others may not be available to everyone.

Available Currencies

You’ll find that Gift Cards are available in the most popular currencies. Players using the US dollar, Canadian dollar, Euro, and Australian dollar should have no issue loading them up in their preferred currencies. There is the possibility of converting these into other currencies once you get to the online casino of your choosing, but it can leave you subject to fees.

Customer Service & Support Options

Gift Cards come in multiple shapes and sizes and they’re issued by a variety of brands. Given this inconsistency, there’s no single Customer Service desk that players can refer to if they run into trouble with their transactions.

If you want to reach out to Customer Support regarding issues with your Gift Card, it has to be with the company that’s issued it. In most cases, there should be some form of contact information on the card itself. Use it to reach out to the issuer of the card and let them direct you on how to solve the problem. If you can’t find any contact information on the card itself, look up the card issuer’s contact information on the internet and go from there.