Skrill Casinos

A long time ago, when people wanted to make payments over the internet, there really was only one option available to them – PayPal. Obviously, one single company having a monopoly over anything financial-wise is not a good thing, so many other companies were set up to offer PayPal alternatives.

One of those was called Moneybookers. Through concentrating on eWallet services for online gambling, Moneybookers became extremely successful with only Neteller as the main rival. Moneybookers eventually rebranded itself as Skrill which is the name we know this eWallet service by today.

A Brief History of Skrill

A UK-based company, Moneybookers was first set up in 2001 as a fledgeling rival to PayPal although the services it offered were not quite the same. The company swiftly became successful, and in 2007 it was purchased by investment company Investcorp for €105 million. By 2011 it was estimated that well over 100,000 brands were accepting Moneybookers payments including such well-known names as eBay and Skype.

Also in 2011 Moneybookers declared that they were going to rebrand as ‘Skrill’, a rarely-used UK slang term for money. Initially known as ‘Skrill by Moneybookers’ the rebranding was complete by 2013.

In 2013 Skrill purchased eVoucher scheme Paysafecard, but just two years later they themselves were bought by Optimal Payments who were the parent company of Skrill’s main rivals Neteller. Skrill just had time to complete their own purchase of Paysafecard rival Ukash whose services they merged with their own eVoucher scheme.

Skrill is now part of the Paysafe Group (a new name for Optimal Payments), a combination of Skrill, Neteller and Paysafecard.

Skrill – Pros and Cons

Pros

• Very easy to use
• Easy to open a Skrill account
• Accepted by a large number of trusted online casinos
• Safe and secure

Cons

• Not all online casinos accept Skrill payments for bonuses.

How to use Skrill at Online Casinos

Of course, you will need a Skrill account if you want to use Skrill at any online casino that accepts Skrill payments. The good news is that opening an account is extremely easy to do. Just like with PayPal or Neteller, all you need to open a Skrill account is an email address. Go to the Skrill site and fill in your application details. You will be sent a confirmation email to confirm that the email address you are using is valid.

The next step is to fund your Skrill account. Usually, you will need a balance in your Skrill account to make payments – you cannot set up Skrill to automatically take payments from your bank account as you can PayPal. Just connect a source of funding to your Skrill account, and you are away. Skrill accepts many funding sources, including bank transfers, Visa cards, credit cards and even other eWallets such as Neteller and Trustly.

When you want to deposit at an online casino or slots site using your Skrill balance, you need to head to the casino’s cashier section. Choose Skrill as your deposit method and the amount you want to deposit and click the confirmation button. You may need to go through some additional verification procedure before the transfer is complete. When all is okay, your money will be transferred. A Skrill deposit should take no longer than one minute.

Withdrawals are available in the same way but in reverse. The time taken to process a withdrawal is not as swift, though. Most online casinos will demand a ‘pending period’ and ‘transaction period’ before your money is transferred. Some casinos will instantly process a Skrill transaction, but most will take at least 24 hours and some even longer.

There is usually a fee of 1% taken by Skrill when you make a deposit or withdrawal.

Skrill 1-Tap Casinos

Skrill 1-Tap is a method used by some (but not many) casinos to make the deposit process via Skrill even speedier. If you use Skrill 1-Tap at an online casino that allows it once, then the next time you use it, your payment will be taken automatically without the need for you to confirm the transfer via your 1-Tap account.

Skrill Rapid Transfer Casinos

Skrill Rapid Transfer is a way of linking your casino account to your bank account directly via Skrill. If a casino offers it, then when you make a deposit, the money is taken directly from your bank account and not a Skrill account (you do not need a Skrill account at all). You use the online banking procedures from your own bank to okay the transfer. Note that Skrill Rapid Transfer is not available in all jurisdictions.

Conclusion

There is simply no argument – Skrill is the most commonly used eWallet at online casinos, just surpassing Neteller and most definitely surpassing PayPal. If you want the convenience of making eWallet-based payments at your chosen online casinos and slots sites, then Skrill is probably your number one choice.