Cryptocurrencies vs. E-Wallets – How Do You Pay?

Posted by Harry Kane on Friday, January 18, 2019

When people talk about the global online gambling market, they often fail to appreciate the sheer size of this entity and the rate at which it continues to grow. In fact, it’s expected to reach a staggering $73.45 billion by 2024, even accounting for increasingly stringent regulations and the rising taxation levels within the space.

Not only this, but the global market is also driven primarily by European economies, with countries such as the UK and Germany and boasting sustained growth and serving as significant employers within the online gambling industry.

The industry is also powered by technologial advancement and diversification, particularly in terms of casino platforms and the range of payment options available. We’ll provide a review of both cryptocurrencies and e-wallets in the article below, while asking which option is the most suitable for you.

Embracing E-Wallets – Their Purpose and the Best Examples

We’ll start with e-wallets, which have emerged as the preferred payment option among online gamblers over the course of the last decade or so.

This offers a number of advantages to gamblers, particularly those who want to execute instantaneous deposits and withdrawals while also minimising third-party fees. Here are some of the other benefits associated with e-wallets:

• They Don’t Reveal your Bank Details to Bookmakers: With market-leading e-wallets such as PayPal, you’ll only ever be required to provide an email address and password to register and access your account. All transactions will also take place through a secure and independent landing page, negating the need to store your details on third-party gambling sites and virtual casinos.

• They Prevent the Bank from Tracking Gambling Activity: Interestingly, most users will link their e-wallet to a bank account, as this enables them to credit their account automatically. Despite this, your logged transactions will only ever feature the type of payment and the total amount, meaning that the bank is left with no log of your gambling activity. This safeguards your privacy, which may prove crucial when applying for loans for mortgages in the future.

• They Limit Risk to your e-Wallet Balance: It can be argued that your e-wallet may be compromised like any other online account, even when it’s hosted on a secure platform. While this risk cannot be avoided in the current climate, it’s at least mitigated in this instance as hackers would only be able to access your e-wallet balance. In contrast, those who steal your debit or credit details can continue to spend freely until the alarm has been raised.

• They Won’t Block Transactions: Due to the nature of online gambling and the fact that many customers wager regularly, you may find that some transactions are blocked by banks and building societies. This is due to the fraud departments that exist in these organisations, but it can become repetitive and frustrating over time. You’ll have no such issue with e-wallets, however, which will process payments securely and immediately without questioning the type of transaction.

Another prominent benefit of e-wallets is that they’re easy to set up and use, while they provide a single account through which you can manage your bankroll.

With platforms such as PayPal, for example, you simply need an email address and password to register for a personal account. The site may verify your details by depositing a nominal amount in your bank account and asking you to read back the associated reference code, of course, but this task can be completed in a matter of moments.

As we’ve already touched on, you can even negate the need to make manual deposits into the account simply by linking it to your current bank account. In this respect, the e-wallet serves as an interface to your bank account, providing an additional layer of security and allowing for immediate deposits and withdrawals.

It’s important to note that individual e-wallet platforms will charge a variable (but nominal) fee to process payments, but this is often a small price to pay for the convenience and flexibility that the offer to online gamblers.

At this stage, the advantages and mechanism of e-wallets should be relatively easy to understand, but you still need to identify the best platforms before proceeding. Here are four of the most popular options:

1. PayPal

PayPal remains the single most e-wallet platform in the world, with a current global market share of 63.26%.

It’s particularly popular among gamblers, particularly those who have operated online for a period of years.

Apart from its longevity, PayPal’s high quality service remains at the heart of its appeal. In many ways, it embodies the unique benefits of using e-wallet platforms, with its instantaneous transactions, 128-bit encryption and easy to use interface.

The platform also takes great strides to protect your personal data and prevent this from being revealed, either to online casinos and merchants or unscrupulous hackers.

2. Neteller

Next up is Neteller, which rivals PayPal in the eyes of online gamblers despite being adopted by a relatively paltry 7,275 websites.

Almost all online casino platforms offer Neteller as a payment option to gamblers, while it’s interesting to note that a number of customers utilise this provider even if they have an existing PayPal account.

In addition to being exceptionally secure and easy to use, one of the big benefits of Neteller is that it applies almost non-existent fees. These nominal charges are lower than any other e-wallet platform, which is ideal for gamblers who wish to withdraw their winnings and retain as much of this cash as possible.

The only negative here is that the site limits the amount of money that can be withdrawn, which may be off-putting for high-rollers and those who like to pursue big gains.

3. Skrill

Skrill is one of the most popular e-wallet platforms in the UK, while its reputation is particularly high in the online gambling sector.

It’s also interesting to note that the platform offers a truly unique service to gamblers, particularly in terms of its level of security (and encryption) and the confidentiality that it offers.

Similarly, the platform is also extremely mobile-friendly, enabling customers to manage their accounts while on the move without compromising on the user experience or their safety.

Skrill has also enjoyed a significant surge of late, after the platform agreed to allow the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies through its site. With a number of casinos also embracing digital currencies in the current market (we’ll have more on this below), Skrill is becoming increasingly relevant and popular in 2018.

4. Ecopayz

Like PayPal, Ecopayz is one of the longest-standing and most historic e-wallets on the market, and as such it’s still held in high regard by some punters.

There’s another reason for this; as like Skrill the platform has tailored its service to suit gamblers and can offer transactions across a staggering 45 variable currencies.

Additionally, the platform offers a 24/7 customer service channel to users, which is ideal for gamblers who like to operate late at night.

On a final note, all deposits made through this platform are completely secure, as they’re processed through an encrypted connection that clears out all transactions once they’ve been completed.

Cryptocurrencies – How Are They Changing the Marketplace?

Just as e-wallets proved to be revolutionary once they were introduced into the gambling market, so too cryptocurrencies have created significant waves since their inception two years ago.

The appeal of cryptocurrencies among gamblers lies in its unique range of advantages, which enhance the experience of wagering money without compromising security. These include:

• They’re Transparent and Decentralised: Cryptocurrencies are powered by blockchain technology, which is a decentralised digital ledger that records transactions on a global scale. These are completely transparent and impervious to manipulation, meaning that users can trust in a payment method that is not subject to a central authority.

• They Offer Total Anonymity to Users: We previously touched on the privacy offered by e-wallets, but cryptocurrencies take this to an entirely new level. More specifically, they blockchains consistent of two individual information stores, which detail location and only limited identifier information (usually a Bitcoin address). This provides anonymity to gamblers, ensuring that private data is not displayed on a bank account or statement.

• They Don’t Apply Transaction Fees: Cryptocurrency coins and tokens have to be physically mined online, and this is a time and energy-consuming process that compensates those who engage in this pastime. As a result of this, cryptocurrency exchanges do not apply transactions fees to users, enabling them to process deposits and withdrawals while retaining all of their capital. This affords them a critical advantage over e-wallets, which all apply a nominal processing fee.

• They Underpin a Growing Number of Online Casinos: Despite the incredible diversification that exists in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin remains the poster boy for the industry and blockchain as a whole. As a result, it should come as no surprise that we’re seeing a growing number of Bitcoin casinos emerge in the marketplace, each of which offers enticing and lucrative bonus options to new registrants.

The level of growth and advancement in this market has been pronounced in recent times, with a number of currencies, token and crypto platforms continuing to make their mark in the gambling industry. We’ve picked out a couple below, as you look to make an informed decision when crediting your gambling account in the future.

1. Edgeless and Edgeless Casino

Edgeless is an Ethereum powered blockchain project that is fully approved and transparent, while it recently hit the headlines by acquiring its own casino license.

Promoting a ‘zero house edge’ concept, Edgeless creates a level playing field for gamblers in approved jurisdictions and currently offer blackjack and dice games (poker and sports betting will be unveiled shortly).

With a functioning fiat currency gateway currently in an advanced stage of development, users will soon be able gamble using an array of digital and similar currencies through the platform. This will create a completely transparent, fluent and familiar gambling experience, and one that places cryptocurrency at its very core.

Edgeless is not available globally as yet, with the U.S. one of numerous markets where it remains unavailable. Still, it offers a unique insight into the future of online gambling and the role that digital currencies will play in this.

2. FunFair

Next up is a competing project, with FunFair mirroring many of the features available through Edgeless.

However, it also operates an entirely different business model, and one that is focused on the development of smooth and graphically evolved games that appeal to casual and non-technical gamblers.

The platform is also ineligible to operate its own casino, and will instead license its patented technology to aspiring operators so that they can create their own platform and immediately leverage the power of cryptocurrency.

Offering real-time gaming on demand and minimal delays, the underlying technology also boasts minimal costs while these savings are shared with players.

The utilisation of cryptocurrency also minimises all transaction fees and charges, boosting the user experience and optimising their returns over time.

The Bottom Line

Along with established and market leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, these innovations are gradually revolutionising the online gambling sector and providing a viable alternative to e-wallet platforms.

Ultimately, the choice of how who credit your gambling account is a deeply personal one, and it will largely depend on your own unique outlook and circumstances as an individual player.

With that being said, e-wallets are probably the preferred choice for casual gamblers or anyone who would not describe themselves as being tech-savvy. After all, these platforms are familiar and easy to use, while they also enable people to deal exclusively in currencies that they’re familiar with.

At the same time, most people in the UK now operate at least one active e-wallet account, which has universal appeal in the modern world of consumerism.

If you’re already familiar with specific cryptocurrencies and have an existing crypto wallet, however, this arguably offers the most affordable, secure and advantageous way of gambling online in 2018. This method will also become increasingly popular in the future, as we see a deeper level of integration between online casinos and individual cryptocurrencies in the market.