It is becoming more and more common for companies to offer you the chance to withdraw your money in the form of vouchers for other companies. Tesco shoppers will be used to this, for example, given that they can exchange their Clubcard points for the likes of Pizza Express vouchers. The reason it will appeal to many is that companies often add a bonus amount to withdrawing via this method, so you might get, say, £12 worth of vouchers for £10. This added value can be appealing for people looking to eke out every penny that they can.
There are problems with such a method of withdrawing gambling winnings, of course. The main one is that once you’ve made the change, you can’t go back and turn it into cash. In other words, you’re stuck using the voucher that you’ve chosen, so if you end up not winning with any money you have left in your account then you can’t change your mind and add the money that you’ve withdrawn as a voucher. It is a small thing, but for some people it can make a big difference to how they use their betting accounts and withdrawals.
What We’re Talking About
Betting companies have to put a number of different plans in place in order to ensure that people aren’t attempting to launder money via their betting account. As a result, it can be easier to look for alternative withdrawal methods than merely removing your balance as cash to your bank account or onto your debit card. One of the methods that some bookmakers have begun to offer punters is to pay out their withdrawal as a voucher for a company that they have a relationship with. You might be able to get a voucher for Greggs, say, or Pizza Hut.
It is done as an alternative to cash withdrawals, but the money is still valid. The difference is that it is only valid with the company that the voucher is for. In other words, a £10 voucher for Greggs would only be able to be spent at Greggs, so you couldn’t wander into WH Smith and ask them to accept the voucher in the same way as you would be able to do with cash. It might seem like a small thing, but it is important to remember it before you accept the voucher alternative as it locks you into spending the money how you’ve said you want to.
Why You Might Go For It
The obvious question to ask is why you might consider opting for a voucher rather than withdrawing cash. There are a number of reasons why punters go for this method of taking their winnings out of their accounts, not the least of which is the fact that it tends to be a quicker method of getting hold of their money than others. Vouchers are often paid immediately, given that they’re sent via email more often than not and can then be printed out at home or else used on a mobile phone directly without the need for printing.
Another reason is that vouchers can be given to others as gifts, which is a lot harder and less personal when you’re talking about cash. Receiving a voucher for JD Sports, say, is much nicer in the eyes of many than getting a £10 note. It is also easier to give someone a voucher than it is to go through the process of withdrawing winnings into your bank account, getting to a cash machine and withdrawing cash and then passing it on to someone else. In other words, convenience wins out over everything else.
One of the main reason that people look to non-cash vouchers as a method of withdrawal from their betting account is that companies often offer bonuses to do so. It is not uncommon for a betting site to say to punters that they will pay 10% or even 20% more if they choose to withdraw their winnings as a voucher rather than as cash. If you can imagine that you’re withdrawing something like £30 as will get £36 instead, that gives you an opportunity to get as much value out of your withdrawal as possible, so appeals to many.
Why Do Companies Offer It?
Knowing that you can get vouchers from companies instead of cash is one thing, but understanding why they would opt to allow you to go for it is something else entirely. There are likely to be tax breaks available to companies when they make payments with non-cash vouchers, which will always appeal. As much as customers might benefit from the added value of bonuses added to non-cash vouchers, betting companies are also keen to avoid paying over the odds for things if they don’t have to, so tax breaks appeal for obvious reasons.
On top of that, companies usually have to pay to process cash withdrawals in a manner that is usually not true with non-cash vouchers. This is another thing that they will look to save money on where they can and if enough punters opt to explore that option then it will save companies large amounts of money over the course of a year. From your point of view, you’re able to use the voucher as cash so it doesn’t make any difference. From the company’s point of view, they’re able to get tax breaks and pay no fee, so it is well worth them encouraging you to do.
This is the main reason why betting sites will offer you a bonus to withdraw your money as a voucher rather than as cash. Though it costs them a little more, it will actually save them money if enough people choose to do it, even with the bonuses added on top. Bookmakers are always keen to save as much money as possible, so if they know that they’ve got to pay you winnings anyway then they might as well try to do it in a way that saves them money where they can. Non-cash vouchers make sense for both parties.
Of course, the other reason they do it is to give you more withdrawal options in the hope that you may end up being more loyal to them.
Why You Might Want To Avoid It
There will certainly be a portion of people that don’t want to help out bookmakers if they don’t have to. In other words, they will choose to take out cash because they know that it costs the bookies money, merely to be spiteful. There is nothing wrong with this approach, provided you’re placing your bets with a company that doesn’t charge you a withdrawal fee. There are other reasons why you might want to avoid a situation whereby you opt for a non-cash voucher, with the main one being that it locks you into a way of spending your money.
Imagine for a moment that you have chosen to take a non-cash voucher for Pizza Express rather than the cash into your account. By doing so, you can only spend the money with Pizza Express and will not be able to change your mind and use the money for something else. For some people, this will be a positive rather than a negative. Certainly if you know that you 100% wish to spend the money at Pizza Express then being able to do so with a voucher rather than cash makes no difference, especially if you get a bonus on top of the amount you want to withdraw.
For others, though, being locked-in to a method of spending money can be a problem. Imagine a scenario in which you have £50 in your betting account and choose to withdraw £30 of it as a non-cash voucher. You then bet the other £20 on what you thought was a sure-fire winner, only to see it lose the event that you bet on. Suddenly you have no money left in your betting account. If you’d withdrawn the money as cash, you could then deposit it back into your account and place more bets, but you can’t do that with a non-cash voucher.
It goes without saying that this is something of a ‘horses for courses’ scenario. You will know yourself well enough to know whether or not getting the money as a non-cash voucher makes sense for you. If, for example, you know that you tend to deposit any withdrawals straight back into your account with a degree of consistency, it might make sense to go for the option that stops you from being able to do that in the form of a non-cash voucher. If, on the other hand, you know that you will use the cash for other things then you might choose to stick with a more conventional manner of withdrawal.