The best feeling in all of gambling is to make a big withdrawal. It’s one thing to play; it’s one thing to win but it’s a whole other thing to see your bank account swell after a huge cashout. At live casinos, all you have to do is take your chips to the cashier’s cage. Online gambling is a little different because you need to withdraw the money electronically.
Although it is nice to get cold hard cash in your hands after a day of gambling, there are some advantages to withdrawing from a gambling site. One of these advantages is that you can withdraw the money directly to your bank account. This avoids the trouble (and danger) of walking home with a bunch of cash in hand.
There are several ways to withdraw from online casinos. The withdrawal options that are available depend somewhat on your country of residence. Players from the US will have certain withdrawal options available while players from Europe will have others. In some cases, the same deposit methods are available around the world.
Best Withdrawal Methods
There are three different withdrawal methods that I consider the best:
- Wire Transfer
- ACH Transfer
- E-Wallets (non-USA players)
- Cash Transfer
The wire transfer method is the best if you’re totally done gambling. If you’re planning on cashing out and spending your casino winnings on something fun, the wire transfer method works well because it sends the money straight to your bank account. The one disadvantage of the wire transfer withdrawal is that it often has high minimums.
Thus, the wire transfer method is the best for large withdrawals. If you still want to spend your money, but you don’t have a massive amount to cash out, the ACH transfer is a better bet. ACH transfers also send money straight to your bank account, but they work with smaller transactions. ACH transfers do not support large withdrawals so this method is the best for smaller amounts.
E-wallets such as Neteller, PayPal and Skrill (Moneybookers) are better withdrawal methods if you are withdrawing from one casino with the intention of moving your money to another casino. People often transfer money to different casinos in order to take advantage of deposit bonuses at other casinos.
The advantage of using e-wallets is that the money does not go directly to your bank account. Instead, the money is sent back to your e-wallet account. This process is faster for moving money from one casino to the other because you don’t have cash all the way back out to your bank account. In other words, it’s a lot faster to transfer money between casinos with an e-wallet.
The disadvantage is that e-wallets usually aren’t available to players in the United States. Banking laws make it difficult for e-wallets to stay in business for any length of time. These days, most casinos don’t even give the e-wallet option to their USA customers.
Cash transfers use a network of cash transfer stations such as Western Union to put real cash in your hand. This method works best for withdrawals around $50 to $1,000 in size. All you have to do is visit your nearest Wal-Mart or wherever else there’s a station and give them an account number.
Notes
Online casinos sometimes require you to withdraw via the same deposit method that you used to deposit. So if you use Skrill to make a deposit, you will also have to use Skrill to withdraw later. A little advance planning is necessary when choosing your deposit method. Make sure that you deposit via a method that you’re also willing to withdraw with.
Note that this is not a hard and fast rule. Most gambling sites are not able to process withdrawals back to credit cards. So if you use a credit card to deposit, you’ll be able to withdraw via a different method when you’re ready to cash out your winnings.
I understand this is a little annoying, but online casinos do this to protect themselves. They feel the most comfortable when you use the same method to withdraw that you use to deposit. Credit cards are usually an exception to the rule.
If you ever have any questions about depositing or withdrawing, give your online casino a call. I’ve called the help line for gambling sites in the past and they were quick to provide answers. It never hurts to call if you have any questions or concerns.
Best Online Casinos for Withdrawals
One of the nice things about the current state of the online gambling industry is that withdrawals are processed quickly. As long as you play at a reputable casino, your cashout requests will be honored in a timely manner. Players from the US will be glad to know that casinos are often faster than poker sites when it comes to processing withdrawals.
Most of the US-friendly poker sites that I deal with today only process cashouts via paper checks. In many cases, these checks take several weeks to process. Online casinos are often much faster than poker sites. This isn’t always the case, but in my experience it’s usually true.
Anyways, the most important thing is that you play at safe online casinos. Here are a couple that I recommend for US casino players:
And here is one that I recommend for non-US players:
If you stick with these casinos, you’ll have a pleasurable experience playing and withdrawing. Now, all you have to do is play a smart game, get lucky and win a big jackpot. Here’s to many large withdrawals in your future!