Virtually all online casino players know that VISA is the most popular form of payment in the world. It doesn’t whether we are talking about online retail, land-based shopping, dining, vacation, sports or even gambling expenses – VISA runs the show. Over 2.3 billion VISAs are in circulation globally, with 687 million of those found in the USA alone. Over 188 billion purchases are processed using either a VISA credit or debit card each year. These are numbers that are unrivalled by all other payment options.
Naturally, with many bettors having access to a VISA, the payment method has found a home in online casinos. The convenience of using VISA to deposit has also seen it grab a massive market share of the gambling audience. Virtually every major online casino accepts VISA, ensuring that not hundreds but thousands of online casinos are open and available to anyone with a bank account attached to a VISA.
So, we know that VISA is the most popular online casino payment method globally and has massive coverage. Very few countries don’t accept VISA. However, with financial fraud always an issue in the online casino world, is VISA really the best method to use when depositing at online casinos? Join us as we explore the ins and outs, the perks, and pitfalls of choosing to use a VISA to gamble online.
Credit cards had, in theory, existed for years before VISA came alone. American Express had long been the go-to name for decades before VISA first popped up. However, the game would be changed in the 1950s. In 1958, Bank of America (BofA) became the first company to launch a credit card that would cater to the emerging middle-class (in California). Paying via credit was no longer the plaything of the super-rich.
In 1966, a rival, Master Charge (better known today as MasterCard), had begun to link up with banks across the USA. In a bid to compete, the precursor to today’s VISA, BankAmeriCard (BofA) followed suit. Naturally, the availability and popularity of VISA soon grew. In 1974, the Bank of America launched its first international cards, taking on various names from Barclaycard (UK), Carte Bleu (France), as it debuted.
The confusing array of similar methods (the parent company logo remained largely the same throughout this time as today) needed to be rectified. In 1976, the company rebranded as VISA following a plan by the founder, Dee Hock. The logo and name rapidly became universally accepted and recognisable. The modern VISA was born.
The first VISA Electron (debit) was launched in 1985, bringing VISA to the working class and ensuring that it was possible to have a VISA without having credit. You have VISA, Inc running the parent company and subsidiaries such as VISA Europe running various sectors. The company continues to make immense sums of money each year, earning $10.8 billion in 2020 alone.
Despite being originally developed with middle-class Californians in mind, VISA is now the forerunner for all manner of purchases, from retail to property, goods, food and, yes, gambling. Let’s look closer at how VISA works at online casinos in the next few sections.
VISA is commonly accepted at virtually all major online casinos. This ensures that if you have a bank card under VISA, you can effectively deposit at said online casino, and there are thousands for you to choose from. For many bettors, this is more than ideal. As they already purchase things regularly online with their VISA, the act of depositing with their card at online casinos won’t be new or confusing to them. Players will already be well-versed in the procedure of entering their bank card details online. The process is the same whether you use VISA (credit), VISA Debit or VISA Electron. Indeed, even prepaid virtual cards and VISA gift vouchers work in the same way.
Making deposits at a VISA online casino using this payment method shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. The minimum deposit limits are typically set to anything from $10 up to $50, although it is common to see minimum deposit caps of $20 – $25 at most online casinos. You shouldn’t really be charged a fee for depositing with this payment method, although a couple of online casinos might do that. The same could be said of shops, though, so we won’t read too much into it. As for maximum deposit limits, these could range from $2,500 up to $5,000 or more per transaction. VISA is capable of handling payments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, so it is only the limitations of your online casino that might hinder this, not the payment method itself.
Depositing with VISA can be a different experience for some players over others, though. For instance, UK players are no longer permitted to deposit with VISA credit cards, although depositing with VISA debit is still very much a possibility. US players may find that their VISA deposits bounce back at some banks prohibit deposits made using the card at offshore casinos. However, trying random figures (such as $67, $89 or $103) instead of conventional sums (like $50, $75 or $90) tends to confuse the banks, leading to your payments going through. For most players, though, there will be no issues depositing with VISA.
Now that we’ve covered that, you may want to learn how to deposit at a VISA online casino? Ultimately, it is a straightforward process, as mentioned. Here is what you need to do:
We’ll be honest here – most online casinos (all the best ones anyway) won’t charge you a fee for depositing into your casino account when you use VISA. However, some online casinos will charge you a deposit fee. It’s not unheard of – some shops do the same – but it doesn’t have to be tolerated. There is just no call for playing at online casinos that charge you with deposit fees when so there are so many alternatives out there that won’t do that.
Any online casino that does hit you with a transaction fee will likely see you having to cough up as much as 2.5% of the deposited fee. Other casinos prefer a straight-up, fixed fee for depositing. Again, there are so many other proverbial fish in the sea that there is no reason to put up with deposit fees for VISA payments.
VISA isn’t just ideal for depositing at online casinos. It is also one of the most convenient payment methods for players to use when they want to withdraw their winnings. Note that if you used a payment method to deposit which cannot be used to withdraw, most online casinos would automatically process any withdrawal transactions when you use a bank method such as a VISA instead. It is, therefore, the go-to-choice for players and online casinos alike.
Withdrawing via VISA at casino sites is not uncommon. Most online casinos permit this. However, it is certainly not the fastest payment option out there. VISA withdrawals at casinos can often take anything from one to five business days to land. Moreover, US players may also encounter issues when they attempt to withdraw their winnings, as US banks won’t accept payments from offshore casinos. Many offshore online casinos, therefore, offer courier cheques as an alternative.
For most players, the situation is like this: VISA withdrawals will take up to a week and “should” be without charge. However, it is not impossible that you could be charged anything from 1% up to 5% of the withdrawal total as a fee or a fixed rate. VISA can be a double-edged sword when it comes to withdrawal limits, too. It is often possible to withdraw immense sums worth thousands of dollars with VISA, but the minimum withdrawal limits are often high. You’re looking at $20 to $50 up to $100 to $500 in some online casinos. Given the variance to be expected here, we encourage you to use our VISA online casinos, as these casinos are verified as fair, secure, and trustworthy when it comes to VISA withdrawals.
Again, if you are considering gambling with VISA online, you’re probably going to want to know how to withdraw your winnings. Here’s our guide to doing that online:
We must make a special mention about the withdrawal speed of VISA. This is not the fastest withdrawal option at online casino sites – by and long shot. In fact, VISA cashouts are amongst the slowest methods around, with cryptocurrencies and e-wallets all miles faster. This is more a limitation of the online casino itself rather than anything VISA does. As touched on above, it is not uncommon to wait for 24 to 48 hours for your withdrawal to clear (sometimes the wait is just a few hours). However, delays of three to five business days are hardly uncommon, either.
There are naturally pros to depositing with VISA at online casinos, and we’ve listed some of the main ones below for you:
While the pros make for a compelling case for you to use VISA at gambling sites, there are still a few negatives we need to look at in the interest of fairness. These include:
As touched on above in the pros section, VISA is a payment method that you can use to claim most bonuses at online casinos. While gambling sites may put limitations on what you can claim when you deposit with Skrill, Neteller, PayPal or e-wallets, they seldom do so with credit card or debit card deposit options.
VISA is mostly eligible for deposit bonuses, but you can check this beforehand. Just look at the terms and conditions for any bonus that interests you. There you will likely discover exactly what the Ts and Cs of depositing with VISA are.
This payment option isn’t just valid for claiming casino bonuses; it is actively popular amongst players. You can regularly claim top-up and free spin bonuses when you use this banking option to pop money into your account. VISA seldom appears as a payment option that will get you a special bonus (such as a preferred payment bonus that offers an extra 10% on the top), but there are virtually no other restrictions attached to bonuses claimed when you use this option.
Most online casinos accept VISA – in fact, we’d go out on a limb and say that virtually all of them do. Therefore, you shouldn’t need to worry about what you can or cannot play at VISA casinos. You’ll find the best array of games anywhere. With so many gambling sites accepting the banking option, you can rest assured that you can find everything and anything you want to play, from slots to table games, sports betting to e-sports and poker, bingo to lottery games and much more besides.
The immense array of games you can choose from is so vast that it is actually a chore trying to find a VISA casino to play at based on their games. With that in mind, might we recommend something? Our advice would be to choose a VISA online casino that supports games from over two-dozen software providers and one that carries a wealth of varying titles – we’re talking over a thousand games, perhaps more than two thousand in a single casino.
Our recommended VISA casinos can all offer you the following top titles:
It is almost time for us to let you get on with casino gambling at a VISA online casino. However, before you take off, we should summarise VISA casinos and gambling with this payment method one last time.
VISA is the perfect payment method for online gamblers to use for several reasons. You will likely already have one, so you don’t have to waste time signing up for a new payment method. You can drop down immense sums if you’re a high roller, and as most online casinos accept VISA, you can play at seemingly any casino that ticks your boxes.
On the flip side, you could be charged a fee (but the same could be said of any shop you visit), and withdrawal times can take a few days. However, the withdrawal figures we’re looking at are often far higher than most e-wallets can match. Ultimately, we’d say that there are more perks when you use VISA at online casinos and gambling sites and online casinos than there are cons.