Instant Bank Transfers – Online Casino Payment Methods

We all know that a bank transfer, sometimes referred to as a bank wire payment, is a payment from your bank account to someone else, but we also know that traditionally, these payments can take anywhere from minutes to days to reach the recipient. When it comes to transacting with an online casino, no one wants to wait days to start playing. This is where instant bank transfers take the centre stage.

Instant bank transfers are facilitated by open banking payment providers who process the payment instantly so that your casino deposits are completed within a minute or two (sometimes even faster), and the same thing with withdrawals. Essentially, you pay the service provider, and they pay the casino, although the model varies a little with some services where they simply act as a payment gateway.

While this might sound similar to an eWallet, it works a little differently. With an eWallet, you first have to fund your eWallet, either with a credit card or bank transfer and then you can transfer the funds from the eWallet to the casino. When you withdraw from the casino, the withdrawal is processed back to the eWallet, and then you can send the money to your bank account.

With instant bank transfers, you eliminate the extra steps, and the funds are directly deducted from your bank account and sent directly to your casino account.

There are numerous instant bank transfer services that are supported by online casinos. Some of the big names you may recognize are Trustly, Zimpler, Volt, Brite, and Sofort. It is worth noting that each one has its supported regions and jurisdictions, so make sure you choose one that is available in your country.

For more info about fast withdrawal options read this article.

Withdrawing from your casino account with instant bank transfers is just as quick and easy as depositing, plus many casinos process these withdrawals immediately, which means within a few minutes, your winnings can be in your bank and ready to spend.

Here are the key steps to withdraw:

1. Log into your casino account and go to the cashier.
2. Select the withdraw option and your respective bank account / instant transfer option.
3. Insert the amount and submit.
4. Wait for the funds to reflect in your bank account.

It goes without saying that all your online transactions should be secure, and instant bank transfer services are no different, and even offer some additional benefits over some other payment methods.

All transactions are fully encrypted and in the majority of cases, they use 2FA (2-factor authentication). The additional level of security comes from the fact that you are not directly transacting or revealing your banking details with the casino, and this is all handled by the payment service.

With that said, you should be aware that when you join some instant transfer services, you will have to link your bank account to them to allow them to deduct funds from your bank account automatically. While this might concern some players, just bear in mind that these organizations are licensed and regulated financial service providers. However, as mentioned, there is a 2FA process that only you have access to, so they cannot just process transactions without you.

Trustly

Trustly is a fintech company from Sweden that was founded in 2008 and is licensed by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, and they hold a European Payment Services Provider license. Trustly went from a small start-up to a genuine rising star and has big investors, like BlackRock, onboard.

The company has developed an open banking payment system that allows people to shop and pay directly from their bank account without the need for a card or app. As of January 2023, Trustly was integrated with more than 6,300 banks across the globe and had over half a billion users.

Trustly has pioneered many new technologies and a key area they focus on is the iGaming space, providing their services to hundreds of operators across the UK, Europe, Canada, and Australia. If you still have doubts about trusting a company called Trustly with your money, bear in mind that they provide their services to PayPal, eBay, Dell, UNICEF, Facebook, and more.

Zimpler

Zimpler is another Swedish fintech company that is focused on open banking solutions. They are also licensed by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. Zimpler has been growing in size and popularity in recent years, having expanded beyond Sweden into Europe. Despite this, they haven’t yet reached the scale of Trustly. Zimpler prides itself on its state-of-the-art security and real-time monitoring to prevent fraud and protect its customers.

Zimpler has an app that allows users to manage their payments, but it goes further than that, with budgeting tools and the ability to set limits. This is ideal when you’re gambling, so as to keep your spending in check. You can also link a credit card to your Zimpler account.

Volt

Volt is a fair newcomer to the open banking arena, opening its virtual doors in 2019. Volt has its headquarters in the UK and is licensed by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). This innovative fintech company also has offices in the Netherlands and Poland. They also have licenses from the Bank of Lithuania and have subsidiaries licensed in Germany and Norway.

Volt made its casino debut in 2021 and has quickly gained traction in the hyper-competitive world of casino payment processing. Using Volt, you will have access to their already vast, real-time open banking network that includes direct transfers from more than 5,000 banks in 25 countries across Europe and the UK. They also entered the Brazilian market in 2021 under the brand name PIX.

The process of using Volt for transactions follows the same process as other B2B open banking instant transfer methods, which is super intuitive. Transactions take only a few moments to be completed.

Brite

Brite is another new entrant to the instant transfer space, founded in 2019. It is clear that the Swedish are strong competitors with this type of fintech, as they too are from Sweden. In fact, many of the people behind Brite come from companies like Trustly, Sofort, and others.

Brite is licensed by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen), and their services are available in the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, and various other countries. Their goal is to expand further across Europe and then globally. At the time of this review, Brite was available in 20 countries with direct access to 3,800+ banks.

An interesting feature of Brite is that you do not need to register an account to use their service. As strange as it sounds, there are good reasons for this. Brite does not hold customer funds at all, they are merely a payment gateway, which gives you even more anonymity. The biggest benefit is the user experience as you will not need to fill in forms or do KYC. It gets even better, because when you complete a transaction through Brite, you are automatically verified by your bank and this info is passed onto the casino, so verifying your casino account is automated.

Sofort

Sofort is a German company that was founded by Christoph Kline and Markus Neun, way back in 2005. The aim of the company at the time was to be an intermediary between the customer, their bank, and the merchant. The purpose was to provide enhanced security for users by keeping their identities concealed from the banks. This was a truly pioneering move at that time.

Sofort’s innovation catapulted them to success, leading to thousands of online casinos adding it as an instant transfer solution. Then, in 2014, they were acquired by the Swedish Fintech giant, Klarna. By 2022, Sofort was serving over 85 million customers across 16 EU countries.

To take things to the next level and give them access to even more banks, in 2022, they partnered with Brite (See above) to create SOFORT Instant Payouts powered by BRITE.