Bank Wires Betting Sites
Bank Wires are one of the dozens of payment solutions that you will have at your disposal when you register with an online sportsbook but for one reason or another, many users overlook this payment method and go with more modern options. Despite its age, we believe that Bank Wires still have a lot to offer the gambling community and in this article, we will focus on all important aspects of this service and how it could be used for the purposes of online sports betting.
How Bank Wires Function?
They are quite simple to understand and to utilize. When you send a Bank Wire, you are ordering that money be taken out of your account and transferred to that of the recipient. The bank handles the transaction and the order is processed within 5 business days. After the payment has cleared, you will have full access to your money and you can then use it to put down bets on your favorite sports team. It is one of the easiest means of depositing money, though maybe not as convenient as other services.
When issuing a Bank Wire, you will need to know the recipient’s banking information. Many countries nowadays use the IBAN system, particularly the countries in the European Economic Area and a few others. Customers in the United States are given routing numbers which are used for domestic transactions. For international payments, most countries use the SWIFT network to settle transfers.
Opening an Account
Depositing to your Sportsbook Balance
Withdrawing from your Sportsbook Balance
Cost and Fees
Another thing that you should consider is that you have to bear the cost of deposits. However, withdrawals are a completely different issue. Many sportsbooks choose to relieve the punter from the cost of withdrawal but there are websites where this is not the case. Others will eat the cost of the transaction if it exceeds a certain amount of money. There is no clear solution to the cost of Bank Wires and each punter will have a different experience. Therefore, each scenario should be judged on a case-by-case basis.
Security and Privacy
Privacy, however, is a different matter. When you make a Bank Wire payment you have to put down your name and the relevant banking information on the statement. This means that the sportsbook will know all of those details once they receive your funds. If you are not the type that likes to share their information with gambling websites, then you might do well to avoid this service. Other payment solutions will completely hide your information from the recipient of the money but Bank Wires are made to be transparent and out in the open.
Advantages of Bank Wires
One of the best aspects of using Bank Wires to fund your online gambling activities is how widely accepted they are. Bank Wires are the traditional way to transfer money and as such, everyone is familiar with how the process works. Moreover, there are no gambling websites out there that will not offer you Bank Wires of some form. This comes into effect especially when you have made a deposit via a service that does not support withdrawals, for example, prepaid cards. In such cases, you clearly cannot cash in your balance using the same method and thus, have to receive your winnings via a different solution. This is more often than not a Bank Wire and it is the most hassle-free means of cashing in.
Another factor that you should also take into consideration is that Bank Wires allow you to transact larger amounts than any other service on the market. Often you will find that credit cards and electronic wallets can only handle up to a few thousand dollars at a time. Whether this is determined by the sportsbook or by the company that handles the transactions is irrelevant. In the best case scenario, you would be able to transact up to $10,000 using a service such as PayPal, Skrill or Neteller. Bank Wires, on the other hand, can easily handle payments of $100,000 or even larger should the gambling website support them. This makes Bank Wires the perfect payment solution for high rollers who handle large amounts during their gambling sessions.
Other benefits of using Bank Wires include the inherent security that comes with the service. Bank Wires are arguably the safest method to transfer money in today’s day and age since the transactions happen bank-to-bank with no middleman to oversee them. This means that once the payment is sent, you will receive your money within a few days and there is little probability of things going astray.
Last but not least, Bank Wires afford you some sense of legitimacy over other payment services. Since Bank Wires have been around for such a long time, they are often associated with higher prestige than other methods of payment. Furthermore, it would be much easier to explain to the taxman where your winnings come from if they come from a Bank Wire where everything is out in the open.
Disadvantages of Bank Wires
First and foremost, you will immediately notice that Bank Wires take a long time to process when compared with other payment services. A standard Bank Wire will usually clear within 5 business days, depending on where you are currently located. This type of service is one of the few that is dependent on your geographical location. As such, the further away you are from where the sportsbook is based, the slow the speed of the payments. It could take a few hours or a whole business week for a transaction to clear and the wait times are not always set in stone. This means that you have a varying experience each time you make a transaction, which is less than ideal.
Something else that you also have to take into consideration is that Bank Wires are not always immediately available as a deposit option. It is much more common for credit cards and eWallets to take center stage for the purposes of depositing and gambling websites extend better support for services which have a larger user base. This means that you may be required to use another payment solution or a man-in-the-middle service to move money from your bank account. Granted, Bank Wires will surely be available for withdrawals, though that does not help you if you want to deposit large amounts all at once.
Another potential negative aspect of Bank Wires is that you reveal all of your banking information to the sportsbook when you make a transfer. After all, it states on the transaction details where the money is coming from and who sent it. This is unfortunate if you are the type of gambler who does not like to reveal their data to gambling websites. This is something that eWallets and online banking services handle much better, as they do not give out your data when you make a deposit or request a withdrawal. If you would like to keep that information from the gambling website then you may want to consider a different service to manage your bankroll.
Finally, we come to one of the worst scenarios that you can experience when using a Bank Wire, which is the bank rejecting the transfer. This is quite possible, particularly when you request your winnings by Bank Wire. Online gambling still does not enjoy a positive reputation in certain circles and there have been reports of banks blocking gambling transactions when detected. In such cases, you have little recourse against the bank and you will need to find a different solution to receiving your winnings. While this is by no means a sure thing, it is always a possibility and one that you should be mindful of. In order to ensure a smooth experience, you may want to ask your bank about its policy towards online gambling.