There are many benefits to using online bookmakers and betting sites. For starters, they are convenient insomuch as you can play anywhere and at any time, though you obviously need to be sensible in terms of how often you place bets. There is also the fact that it is much easier to Cash Out wagers should you wish to, which is much more difficult in physical betting shops. On top of both of those things is the fact that the amount of choices available to you are virtually limitless, especially if you’re willing to move between companies.
The down side to betting online is that you need to be able to get your cash into your betting account somehow, with most people opting for debit cards as a manner of doing this. Unfortunately, debit cards expire or you may decide to change bank, but bookmakers use a closed-loop system that requires you to withdraw your funds onto the same card that you deposited them into in the first place. If your card expires or you change your card, it is usually pretty easy to get in touch with bookies or casinos in order to ask them to change your main registered card, as we’ll go on to explain.
The Closed-Loop System
There are numerous reasons why online bookmakers, casinos and other betting companies use a so-called ‘closed-loop’ system when it comes to depositing and withdrawing funds. The most important one, though, is all to do with the use of cards to launder money. Nefarious types would look to load money into their betting account with one card and then withdraw any winnings onto a different card, thereby ‘cleaning’ it in the process. This is something that the United Kingdom Gambling Commission takes very seriously, so does what it can to deter.
This can result in all sorts of odd things happening when you try to withdraw money. Let’s imagine that you’ve made a deposit of £100 with your debit card and another deposit with a method such as Skrill, this time of £200. You win your bets and have £500 in winnings, all of which you’d like to withdraw. The system of the online company that you’re using will know which method you deposited the most money onto, so you’ll need to equal that deposit before you can withdraw more to another method. That is to say, you won’t be able to withdraw more than £100 to your debit card until you’ve moved £200 to your Skrill.
Some companies will let you know on your banking page where you’re at with each deposit method. This is usually referred to as ‘Net Deposits’, which is created by subtracting your total withdrawals from your total deposits. If you’ve deposited more money than you’ve withdrawn your Net Deposit will be positive, whilst if you’ve withdrawn more than you’ve deposited then it will be negative. You then need to balance your Positive Net Deposits if you’ve used several deposit methods before you can withdraw money to one account over another.
Changing Your Default Card
There are all sorts of reasons why you might want to change the default card that you have registered with an online gambling account. Sensible people know that you need to constantly move from bank to bank in order to get the best rates and to ensure that you’re able to take advantage of incentives to join, for example. This means that you might have a new bank account every six months or so, giving you a new card and a need to change the debit card that you have registered with your betting account of choice each time.
Most companies make it easy enough for punters to change the financial information that they have on their account, understanding that it is a necessity. Though they’ll each handle the exact process in a different way, you’ll usually need to load up your account information and look for a section entitled something along the lines of ‘Manage Payment Methods’. From there, you can upload a new card, after which you can then make that new card your ‘Primary’ one for deposits and withdrawals moving forward, which makes life much easier for you.
The same area of the site will be where you’ll want to go if you want to change the card that you make deposits from. Instead of uploading a new card, you’ll look for the option labelled something like ‘Deposit Card’. This often presents you with a list of the cards that you have on your account, so you can choose the correct one and go from there. In order to actually make a deposit, it is common to have to enter your CV2 number, which is three digits on the back of the card, alongside the deposit amount that you’re making.
As you have probably worked out, the same thing is necessary to change the card that you withdraw to, though this is typically a little bit more complicated. You need to head to the ‘Withdrawal’ section and choose the card that you want to withdraw on to. Once you’ve done that, you can then use that card moving forwards, provided the withdrawal has gone through correctly. Sometimes it doesn’t, of course, but most betting companies won’t be able to help with missing withdrawals or the like until at least five working days have past since the withdrawal was made.
Updating Expired Cards
In terms of added complications, nothing makes things confusing for you quite like having a card that has expired linked to your account. The good news is that if you make a withdrawal to a card that has expired, been reported as lost or reported as stolen, the withdrawal will still work provided the bank account and sort code attached to the card are the same. As with all betting companies now, you won’t be able to deposit or withdraw from a credit card, which includes Mastercard, so do bear that in mind when choosing your deposit method.
Of course, most companies will automatically remove cards that have expired from your account automatically, so it is mainly cards that are lost or stole than you need to worry about. If you’ve been sent a new card that has the same information as your old card but a different expiry date, you can usually update the expiry date in the My Account section of your betting company. Once you’ve chosen the option that says something like ‘Manage My Payment Methods’, you’ll be given the chance to ‘Edit’ details of the cards on your account and you can change it there.
What About Changed Cards?
For those of you that move from bank to bank regularly, or even have just done it once and now have a new card and new banking information, you’ll still be able to get your money. The first thing that you’ll need to do is get your new card onto your account and make it your primary card as we’ve explained above. This will allow you to keep loading money into your account and betting as normal. The problem comes when you try to withdraw money onto that card that was deposited via another payment method, which most companies won’t allow you do to.
The good news is that you will be able to get them to send you your money via bank transfer. If you have already made deposits and withdrawals with your bank then this should be easy enough, but sometimes you might need to send the company that you place your bets with some identification. They will always get in touch with you and tell you what ID it is that you need to send them, so don’t just send them your passport or birth certificate or anything like that without first having asked if that’s what they want.
If you’ve changed your withdrawal method, most companies will ask you to make a deposit with that method before they’ll allow you to withdraw anything to it, so do bear that mind. It is usual for companies to ask you for documentation for a number of reasons, most of which are done in order to avoid the possibility of money laundering and in order to ensure that the company can fulfil its Know Your Customer requirements, as set out by the UKGC. As long as they know who are and that you are who you say you are, you’ll be fine.
In terms of the ID that you’ll be asked to send, it will usually be one of the following:
- Passport
- Residence permit
- Driving licence
- National ID card
- CitizenCard
- Electoral ID
- Age Card
They are sent in addition to other documents, including a statement for the card used or proof of the registered address. All documents need to be clearly visible and easy to read, with photos of them usually preferred by most betting companies. Regardless of the site that you’re using, all licensed gambling sites have to obey these rules of their licensing agreement.