Bonuses are one of the most common strategies that online casinos use to attract players. There are different kinds of them, including welcome bonuses, free spins, loyalty programs etc. Depending on a casino, they can be more or less generous. Still, one thing is common for all of them – they all come with certain requirements.
To qualify for a certain bonus, you usually have to make a certain deposit. However, online casinos don’t evaluate different payment methods in the same way. While you can easily claim your bonus if you use a credit card, for example, that’s not the case with all e-wallets, particularly with Neteller and Skrill.
In most cases, casinos won’t give you a bonus if you use one of these two e-wallets as a payment method. If you wonder why, the answer will come in the following paragraphs.
What Are Neteller and Skrill
Neteller and Skrill are e-wallets, both similar and different and some aspects. What they have in common is that they are both linked with a bank account and that both are used to send and receive money. Both companies have been in the business for a while and most casinos have both of them on their lists of payment methods. Also, Skrill is part of Paysafe Group which owns Neteller as well.
Neteller is one of the oldest e-wallets in the business and it was also one of the first widely accepted e-wallets in the world of online casinos. At some point, 85% of all online casino deposits were processed by Neteller. However, things changed drastically after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2007.
After that, the company moved out of the U.S. but remained in other parts of the world. The total revenue went down from $239 million in 2006 to just $61 million in 2010. However, the company is still in the business and still is considered one of the major players in the business.
On the other hand, Skrill was founded two decades ago, as Moneybookers. This UK company was purchased by Investcorp in 2007, and it was rebranded to Skrill in 2013. In 2015, it acquired an Australian company called Paysafecard. Paysafe Group bought it in March 2015 for €1.1 billion.
Why Limitations?
There are several reasons why online casinos don’t offer bonus deals for players who use these e-wallets as payment methods. Some casinos offer bonus deals, but they are less rewarding compared to other payment methods.
Fraud and Money Laundering: This is one of the main reasons why online casinos either don’t accept Neteller and Skrill as payment methods or offer less rewarding bonus deals. Simply, most authorities that issue licenses require valid identification from users.
That’s the way authorities prevent a scenario where operators are used for fraud and money laundering. The actual problem with Skrill and Neteller is that this kind of identity verification is more complicated compared to other payment methods.
Bonus Abuse: Another common issue with Neteller and Skrill. The main problem here is that these two e-wallets offer very fast withdrawals. So, when a player finds a new loophole in terms and conditions, he can abuse the bonus and quickly cash out. When casinos realize the abuse, it’s usually too late for any reaction.
High Fees: Like most e-wallets, Neteller and Skrill are also characterized by pretty high fees. They usually take between 2% and 3% of every transaction. So, many casinos agree to cover a part of this fee, in order to attract more players who use these payment methods. So, it’s quite easy to understand why bonus offers are less attractive with these payment methods.
Alternative
So, you probably wonder what is the alternative? Well, if bonus offers play such an important role in your online gambling campaigns, then you should consider other payment methods, which come without limitations regarding bonus offers.
Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is a credit card. We are talking about Visa and Mastercard, as well as other names in the business. All of them are fast and reliable payment methods, while there are no limitations regarding bonus offers.
Wire transfers like Western Union and MoneyGram are also possible alternatives. However, both are characterized by very high fixed fees, so we are not sure if that would work for most players.
Finally, you could consider cryptocurrencies as well. More and more online casinos are accepting Bitcoin and other currencies and even offer some pretty special bonus offers. Also, no bank or government can stop your transactions if you use this payment method.
On the other hand, a big downside is that these currencies aren’t particularly stable, so your payment may be worth notably less already a day after the payment.
