There was a point, not that long ago, when playing a casino game meant sitting down at a desk. The screen was big, a keyboard and mouse were within reach, and typing out a sixteen-digit card number was mildly annoying at worst. That setup has largely gone, with most casino sessions in the UK now happening on a phone.
This shift has been underway for many years and has produced a wide variety of well-documented changes. Mobile-first slots and games. Optimised apps and websites. Yet, one thing that’s rarely been covered is just how much it has changed the deposit process.
Certain payment methods that better match a gaming experience on mobile have exploded in popularity. Also, rather curiously, the withdrawal process has barely been affected.
In this article, we take a look at exactly what impact mobile devices have had on UK casino payment methods, and what they haven’t.
The money now comes from the device itself
The clearest example is paying by phone bill. Instead of pulling money from a bank account or online wallet, the deposit is charged to the player’s mobile phone account, either added to the monthly contract or taken from pay as you go credit. The account being billed and the device being played on are the same thing, which is about as neat a fit as mobile play could ask for.
Charging things to a mobile bill isn’t a new invention. This concept has been around since long before smartphones were invented, let alone online casinos on smartphones. What changed is that actually playing casino games on mobile stopped making this payment method feel like an odd detour.
When playing from a desktop or laptop, billing a deposit to your phone required you to use a completely separate device. It was an extra step that many thought unnecessary, considering that every other popular payment method worked perfectly well on the computer they were already using.
But now, when actually using the phone to play, there is no gap to bridge. A working UK phone number is all that’s needed, followed by a few verification codes, and it’s done.
Something to consider is that this method has much tighter limits. Casinos and networks cap how much you can deposit (usually £30 per transaction), which is much smaller than other payments. Many players like this, though, as it can help them keep within spending limits.
The main catch is availability. Casino operators that offer deposits by phone are nowhere near as common, meaning you can’t just assume it is waiting at the cashier next to Visa and Mastercard. Instead, players must find pay by phone bill UK casinos specifically before signing up, rather than joining a site and hoping it’s there.
A glance instead of sixteen digits
Two more modern payment methods growing quickly are Apple Pay and Google Pay. Driven, of course, by the rise in mobile use, these wallets let players deposit from their bank card or account without the fiddly process of entering the details every time.
What drives their uptake is that most people who use these wallets at a casino will have already added their card months or years earlier for everyday spending, such as buying coffee or paying for train tickets.
This means there’s nothing to register or configure when they arrive at the casino site. The card is ready to be used immediately, and confirming a deposit takes a quick look at the screen or a thumb on the sensor.
That convenience is largely a mobile phenomenon. On a computer, the same method is clunkier. It either requires a Mac with Touch ID for Apple Pay, or for you to pick up your phone to confirm the payment. The time-saving only really exists on the device people are now playing on.
The good news is that casino operators have caught on to this. It’s far easier for players to compare Apple Pay casinos in the UK these days, giving them a much wider range of choice than before. For Android users, Google Pay is also becoming more widely available, albeit not as quickly.
Although neither has reached the near-universal availability that Visa and Mastercard have, it won’t be long before they get there.
Why withdrawals haven’t changed
While these two are great examples of the impact on deposits, the switch to mobile casino gaming hasn’t resulted in the same shakeup for withdrawals. However, the reasons for this are far more to do with regulations and compliance than a lack of technology.
The main factor is that UK casinos nearly always require withdrawals to be sent back to the same method used to deposit. The Gambling Commission treats this closed-loop approach as best practice and strongly recommends it.
While operators aren’t strictly forced to work that way, those that don’t have to build extra compliance measures to compensate. Most decide it isn’t worth the effort, so players will find this applies at almost every site they play.
In the rare instance where the depositing method can’t be used to withdraw, with pay by phone being the obvious example as it’s deposit-only, the casino has to establish an alternative.
Sending the money via manual bank transfer is often chosen, which means the player needs to supply their name, account number and sort code. The deposit method that suits a phone better than anything else ends up being the least phone-friendly when it’s time to withdraw.
Any delays with paying out aren’t usually a technical problem either. The time between requesting a withdrawal and seeing the money is mostly spent by the casino checking the account and approving the payment. This happens at whatever pace each operator works at. Whether the request came from a laptop or a phone makes no difference.
All of these factors explain why withdrawals have been far less affected by mobile play than deposits. With everything pretty much already decided elsewhere, there has been no room for anyone to invent a more mobile-friendly alternative.
For now, and unless regulations change, the rise of casino gaming on mobile will continue to have much more impact on the deposit side, changing how players top up their accounts for the foreseeable future.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
