Quick Deposit Poker Sites

How Poker Deposits Work

You might think that when you make a deposit, your money goes straight from you to the poker site. It’s actually not quite that simple. Rather, your money goes to a payment processor before hitting the poker site. The middleman is who’s really in charge of the transaction. It’s kind of like paying with your credit card at a department store. Sure, you’re ultimately making a payment to the store itself. But your payment goes through a third party before the store ever sees any money.

Why? Well, payment processors specialize in payment processing; department stores don’t. So it makes sense for a department store to outsource the act of payment processing. That way, buying stuff is – theoretically – a much faster, simpler, and safer process.

Payments at department stores are instant, and most stores can accept a wide variety of payment methods. That’s because mainstream payment processing companies have bundles of money and lots of infrastructure. Poker payment processors, on the other hand, often don’t have the same kind of resources. So processing gambling payments can be a huge pain, as we’ve found out in recent months.

Why is poker payment processing so spotty? That’s a complicated issue, and it’s largely outside the scope of this article. Let’s just say that the gambling industry faces a unique set of challenges that the department store industry doesn’t. Us poker players have to make do with what we have. Making a quick deposit at a poker site is still possible, if we know what to look for.

Which Poker Sites Have Quick Deposits?

As a rule of thumb, most quick deposit poker sites have been around for a while. They’re established players in the industry, and have figured out the ins and outs of processing gaming transactions online. Given these criteria, two sites come to mind as top players: 888 Poker for non-US customers, and BetOnline Poker for American poker players.

888 Poker’s roots go way back to 1997. They’ve been processing deposits and withdrawals for a long time over there, so they know what’s up. It’s a great room to play at and arguably has the quickest deposit time of any site online. If you’re outside the US, 888 is the obvious choice for quick deposits.

BetOnline has been around as an online bookmaker since 2000. Its poker room is fairly new, but it’s backed by 11 years of online transaction expertise. The BetOnline brand is reputable and known for quality; in this, the poker room serves the brand well. If you’re an American looking for a fast deposit, BetOnline Poker is your best bet.

What’s the Fastest Way to Deposit to an Online Poker Site?

The quickest way to deposit is definitely by credit card. The next fastest is using a method that feeds from your bank account. And then there’s always the option of making a cash transfer through a service like Moneygram or WU.

Of course, not everyone can make every type of deposit. If you’re American, for example, you’re going to have a hard time making a credit card deposit. That’s unfortunate, but there are always other options. For example US players could just pick a poker room that offers wire transfers, US echeck deposits or cash transfers instead.

Credit Card and Prepaid Card Deposits

Every quick deposit poker site accepts credit cards and prepaid credit cards. This type of deposit is lightning fast, if your credit card will go through. Some credit card operators block gambling transactions; other card operators don’t. It’s hit-or-miss, so give it a shot. You can’t really know whether or not your card will work until you try it.

If your credit card doesn’t work, don’t fret. You may be able to find a prepaid credit card that will work. These come in two flavors: physical cards and online prepaid cards. You can purchase the former at most drug stores (CVS, Walgreens, etc.), and you’ll find the latter listed in the payment options for most poker sites.

Example: BetOnline Poker accepts something called “EZVoucher”, which is an online prepaid credit card. You sign up for the voucher service, deposit to your online card using your “real” credit card, and then deposit to the poker site using your voucher. Payments are pretty quick if you do them this way.

Depositing From Your Bank Account

If you can’t use your credit card, you can move money online from your bank account and deposit that way. There are three ways to do this: an eCheck, an e-wallet, and a wire transfer. Depositing using eCheck is a great option, but unfortunately it’s unreliable. Often times, it’s hard to find an eCheck provider that will take business from poker sites. At this time, it’s pretty brutal out there; you’re not likely to find many sites accepting eChecks right now.

Using an e-wallet is a workaround, but only for non-US players. Unfortunately most e-wallets won’t take American payments, thanks to the recent “situation” in the USA. If you’re non-US and would like to use an e-wallet, check out either NETELLER or Moneybookers. Those two pretty much have the market cornered in most countries.

Some poker sites will accept wire transfers. Usually you can only use this method if you deposit a pretty large amount (greater than $1,000). If you’re looking to make a big deposit, this is a solid option. Either contact your poker site’s support team or use the “Wire Transfer” button located in the site’s cashier. 

Quickly Transfer Cash to Your Poker Account

When nothing else works, there’s always the old fashioned way: sending your money via cash transfer service. It’s just like the old days when you’d send money to grandpa cross-country by Western Union; only now you’ll be sending it to a poker site.

Obviously, this takes some time. You’ll have to head down to a W.U. or Moneygram location in a department store or grocery store. You’ll need to exchange your cash for a transaction slip. Then you’ll need to head back to your poker site and enter all the relevant information into the cashier screen. From there, it could take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two to clear your deposit.