In the early days of the internet, the idea of giving out your credit card details online would’ve seemed like a one-way ticket to having your identity stolen. Imagine trusting a website with your money! Fast forward to 2018 and global e-commerce sales total more than $2.8 trillion, with experts predicting that by next year (2021) online sales will account for $4.8 trillion of total global spending.
As the internet became a more mainstream place to buy everything from books to sofas, it also began to open up as the go-to place for a number of other activities, including gambling, and part of the reason for this is the increase in the safety of online transactions. From digital wallets to cryptocurrency, a number of methods have been devised to protect players from having both their money or their identity stolen, whilst making payments and withdrawals faster and easier than ever before.
The Payment Gateway
At the most basic level, casinos use a third party to make transactions run smoothly. This third party that handles the funds can be broadly defined as a payment gateway. One of the most widely known payment gateways is PayPal. You’ll find their logo on a variety of websites from ecommerce sites like eBay to online gambling games at Paddy Power, and they serve as the middle party between players and online casinos. They hold money that players deposit and transfer it to the casino should the player lose the game. They also make sure that casinos pay out when a player wins a game too.
The Digital Wallet
For players that don’t just want to pay online, but store their money in an easily accessible form online too, digital wallets (or e-wallets) are the way to go. PayPal does offer this service, but many new players have entered the game such as Skrill and Neteller. With a digital wallet, users can send money and pay for goods and services anywhere in the world. Players looking to play gambling games will find that transactions are fast and relatively seamless, allowing them to play uninterrupted and without the hassle of continually filling in payment forms in order to deposit more funds.
J.P. Morgan has shown that the demand for digital wallets is increasing, with 28% of online transactions in the US being made using one in 2019. That may not sound particularly high, but when you realize that only 47% were conducted with a credit card, it is clear that digital wallets are catching up. Plus, Allied Market Research predicts that the digital wallet market will be worth $7,580.1 billion by 2027.
As the world moves towards a cashless society, it coincides with the demand for more virtual services. People can do more and more from the comfort of their own home from their PC or smartphone, and casinos know that in order to keep players happy, they have to stay ahead of the curve. So, the next time you see an unfamiliar payment method, check it out. You might just become part of the future.