iDeal Casinos

iDeal is one of the many global payment systems across the internet that will link an online casino to an online casino player’s internet banking systems. By using this system, players are easily able to move money from their online banking account to their casino account, as long as their casino accepts iDeal payments.

The iDeal payment system was started by a company that had designs upon creating a global payments system that would allow users to connect any bank account in the world to any merchant to whom they wished to pay. When they decided that this was too complicated to achieve, they choose to focus on local payments systems, of which iDeal is one.

A Brief History of IDeal

Created as long ago as 2005, iDeal has established itself as the number one ePayments system in the Netherlands. When making payments online, people in the Netherlands are much more likely to use iDeal as an internet payments provider than an eWallet such as PayPal, Skrill or Neteller.

By 2014 it was estimated that over half of all online payments made in the Netherlands were conducted via iDeal. That percentage has not dwindled at all over time, despite many other online payments systems being available to Dutch people. Only around 10% of internet customers use their credit card online, and only 5% use PayPal.

IDeal – Pros and Cons

Pros

• Highly secure – uses bank-standard encryption.
• Accepted by a growing number of online casinos.
• No additional accounts required.

Cons

• Only usually available to players in the Netherlands.
• Cannot easily be used for withdrawals.

How to use IDeal at Online Casinos

The main issue you have to contend with if you want to use iDeal at your online casino is that you will probably need to have an account with a Dutch bank. Virtually every single bank in the Netherlands accepts iDeal payment request, including (but not limited to) the following:

• ABN AMRO
• ASN Bank
• bunq
• ING
• Knab
• Moneyou
• Rabobank
• RegioBank
• Revolut (UK)
• SNS
• Svenska Handelsbanken (Sweden)
• Triodos Bank
• Van Lanschot

To use iDeal at an online casino that accepts iDeal payments, you just need to have a bank account that has iDeal enabled. If you have a bank account and you are based in the Netherlands, then you will very probably be able to use iDeal. A few banks globally (in Sweden and the UK at least) may allow you to use iDeal.

First, you need to head to the online casino where you wish to use iDeal to make a deposit. You will be able to choose from a number of options – select ‘iDeal’. You will also need to select a deposit amount in line with the casino’s limits.

Once all is okay, click the confirmation button. An applet or window should then pop up listing a number of banks. Choose the bank from which you wish to make a deposit. Once you have done this a further window should appear in which you will need to enter your usual banking username and password. Don’t worry – you are not sharing your username and password with the online casino where you are making a deposit as the applet is actually provided by your bank.

If everything is okay then you will be asked to approve the transfer. Confirm this and the transfer process will commence. Because you are using your own bank’s money processing system the transaction should be very swift. Your money will be transferred instantly and even if it is not, you will only have to wait a couple of minutes before your cash is in your casino account and available to gamble with.

Because iDeal is a bank-to-merchant payments process, commonly only deposits are available at online casinos. Withdrawing would mean merchant-to-bank which is not typically how iDeal works. Merchants can send money to your bank account as a refund, but most online casinos do not take the steps to set this up. When you want to withdraw money from your casino account you will need to use an alternative payments method.

Conclusion

Most people use a Visa card or eWallet such as PayPal when it comes to making online casino deposits, but others desire a system that is a little more secure. Because iDeal uses the same application to process payments as the one used by your bank, there can be no more secure way of transferring money over the internet.

The only real downsides to iDeal are that (a) you have to have an account at a participating bank in order to use IDeal and most of those banks are based in the Netherlands, and (b) you are unlikely to find an online casino that will process an iDeal withdrawal.

No matter the method you choose when you want to deposit money at an online casino, remember that you always need to adhere to responsible gambling guidelines.