How to make a deposit & withdraw at an Indian gambling website
I have many times made deposits to various online gambling sites. The first time I created a casino account and made my first deposit was a bit of a process.
The legal status of online gambling for money in India is a bit of a grey zone. If you are reading this article I assume you already know the situation of the legal environment in 2019. Therefore I won’t go in-depth on the laws and regulation. If you are still curious you can check out my guide “Is online gambling legal in India?”
On this page, I will guide you through the process of creating an account at a gambling website in India and explain thoroughly how to make a deposit and withdraw real money. You will also find reviews of trusted internet casinos, sportsbooks and Poker rooms I currently have accounts at.
If some of the information feels redundant you can always navigate in the table of contents below.
Enjoy & please don’t abuse the photo of my credit card!
Step 1. Choose a trusted online gambling site
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Step number one in making payment to an online casino or Sportsbook is finding an Indian gambling portal which is trusted. I and my co-authors on G2G have listed the most trusted and reputable internet gambling sites in India.
I have created a full overview of our review criteria to find the best Indian gambling site. Therefore the following information is just a summary of what is relevant for the monetary part of finding a safe site.
Currencies
Most Indian gambling websites use EUR or USD which can leave a bitter taste in the mouth when you has to exchange the money. And honestly, I don’t know what kind of exchange rate is applied.
Therefore you should always look for a website which has INR as payment and withdrawal option.
License
A licensed online casino, poker or sports betting site is always your best choice. A license means the website follows certain standards in terms of storing personal information and encryption of payments. The gambling operator has to follow the rules of the licensor and the most trusted international license is the Maltese one.
If you sign up at a gambling site with a Maltese license the website has to obey over regulations such as GDPR, ISO-standards and European Law which has a strong focus on protecting internet consumers.
Promotions
If you are new to the world of online gambling you don’t know the positive impact the promotions can do to your wallet. On a regular basis (daily/weekly/holidays) they send you special offers to make a deposit and get extra money, or even free money to gamble for.
Promotions can also involve tournaments against other players. Or, the type of special promotion I like the best, is when you have the opportunity to win an iPhone, a vacation to another country or even to win a brand new car. Playing at an internet casino gives us players more “bang for the buck”.
Step 2. Know the alternatives of methods
I have broken down of the most popular payment methods for Indian gambling websites. I recommend you to read all four options so you are familiarized with the opportunities which may arise.
Even if you have signed up at a website with a payment method as you don’t prefer, you can always sign up at another one. Signing up is always free and you should never give up your credit or debit card information in the sign-up process.
Below are two tables how it looks like when depositing & withdrawing money to bet365 India. ou want as low the costs of depositing & withdrawing with the time it takes to send & receive your money. But this goes without saying
Deposits
| Method | Fee | Process Time | Min | Max |
| VISA & Mastercard | Free | Instant | 400 | 2 000 000 |
| Neteller | Free | Instant | 1 000 | 2 250 000 |
| Skrill | Free | Instant | 350 | 2 000 000 |
| AstroPay | Free | Instant | 600 | 350 000 |
| Bank wire | Free | 2-10 days | 7 500 | 6 000 000 |
| entropay | Free | Instant | 750 | 2 000 000 |
Withdrawals
| Method | Fee | Process Time | Min | Max |
| VISA & Mastercard | Free | 1-5 days | 400 | 2 000 000 |
| Neteller | Free | Within 12h | 1 000 | 2 250 000 |
| Skrill | Free | Within 24h | 350 | 2 000 000 |
| Bank wire | 1 free every 28 days or 600 | 2-10 days | 4 000 | 3 000 000 |
What you should know though is the limitations of each method which I have broken down in sub-topics. Read on!
Credit cards
Most online casinos worldwide accept credit cards such as VISA, Mastercard and Maestro – including sites targetting Indian players.
However, the fun stops here. Making a deposit as an Indian to an online gambling website, whether the purpose is for skill games such as Rummy or Poker (which has a separate legal status) does not matter. All the payments are labelled as ‘gambling for real money’ and will be treated in the same way.
Let me explain how this works.
Over the past five years, I have created over 200 online casino accounts (I know, it is kind of crazy but at least you can trust me that I speak from experience). I have used the following two cards for making deposits:
- Canara Bank VISA credit card
- ING Vysya Mastercard credit card (before ING turned Kotak).
I think maybe 15-20 different casinos has accepted my CC deposit attempts.
Online casinos and sportsbooks as bet365 and LeoVegas will support Indian credit or debit card payments. But…
Your local bank does not support payments labelled as “Gambling”. The casinos do not communicate directly to the banks but with a third party acting as a “Payment Gateway”, which then, in turn, communicates with the credit cards providers (VISA/Mastercard), which then communicates with your bank.
Sounds complicated? Check the picture below.
If the payment gateway provider NOT labels your payment to the website as “Gambling” then your credit card casino deposit will work.
If the gateway provider does their job right you will not be able to deposit or withdraw any potential money winnings.
The positive side of using credit or debit cards for online casino transactions is the speed, security and ease of transactions (utilizing full Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)).
The process is just like paying at Flipkart or any webshop. You should make sure that your card is cleared for international transactions by your bank before you attempt to utilise it. What can be good to know is that your payments and withdrawals when you win will appear on your bank statement as being paid to b365 or bet365. So if you have a shared account with your wife… You should… Ehrm…. Well, that’s up to you.
Internet banking
Making a bank transfer from your bank account is a convenient and safe method to move Rupees to your online gambling account. However, there’s one big drawback to this method.
It takes up to 24 hours to send money and up to 10 days to receive withdrawals.
As a seasoned gambler, I would never be able to wait for 10 (!) days until I can use my money. I often involve feelings in my gameplay and I play whenever I feel like through the phone. Whether I am commuting to a meeting in Chennai or just having dinner on my own. Waiting for several hours/days/weeks ruins the fun in playing casino online. And… Dealing with the Indian banking system and its efficiency is something I prefer to avoid… I think you know what I mean.
But I will be factual and describe how the process works by exemplifying with the Indian casino Jeetwin where I have an account.
If you want to make a deposit to your gambling account at Jeetwin you need to contact the Customer Support for the payment details. After a couple of minutes, you are sent some unique banking details leading to a bank in India.
Here is how it looks like:
Details for bank wire at Jeetwin.
Sending the money is free and the casino receives it within 24 hours, you’ll be notified by email once the funds are received and cleared. Making a bank wire transaction requires you to be very detailed with your personal details. The name of your sending/receiving bank account must match with your casino account name. You must also fill in a KYC (Know Your Customer) survey at Jeetwin. As a rule of thumb, you use your user name as the reference when making the transfer.
What I do not like about this method, apart from the time it takes, is all manual work involved. It also adds a lot of emphasis on your personal details and bank account as I prefer not to scatter all over the World Wide Web.
E-wallets
Online or E-wallets is the best friend of Indian online gamblers. It’s safe, fast and works with 99% of all gambling sites.
E-wallets should not be mixed up what we call ‘mobile payments’ or ‘cashless payments’ in India. Such as Airtel Money or PayTM. No, E-wallets in online gambling encompasses providers such as Skrill, Neteller or AstroPay.
All the online wallets work more or less the same and I will exemplify with Skrill as I have been a loyal customer to for several years. E-wallets
Skrill account and Indian newspaper
Owning an online wallet account means you can access your money 24/7 through your computer or mobile phone. It’s a safe method which identifies the owner and the account together through fingerprint, pin code and two-step authentification. You have to choose what currency you want the account to be in. You can always have one account at Skrill in Euros and another account at Neteller in USD to safely cover both currencies.
Signing up to Skrill is very easy, below is the process and you can do all these steps with your mobile phone:
- Go to www.skrill.com
- Complete the signup process
- Verify your account – Take a photo of your ID Card/Driving License/Passport + utility bill.
- Submit the images – Make sure the photos are clear and your account should be verified within 5 minutes.
- Enable for gambling – Go to “My Account” and tick in the box “Enable account for gambling”.
- Done!
Here are some of the main advantages of using an e-wallet:
- You can store information from multiple credit cards in one safe and convenient place.
- Instant deposits
- High privacy
- Low fees
Mobile payments
PayTM, Airtel Money and Mobikwik are three ‘mobile payment’ providers. These kind of online banking solutions are common in India and other parts of Asia. Used to pay bills, make travel reservations or make purchases online.
Since these companies are Indian unfortunately none of them accepts gambling payments.
Step 3. Choosing the best transaction method
If you have read the options above I think you know the answer. Using an Online/E-wallet for online gambling transactions is, without doubt, the best method. It goes fast, it’s secure and in my experience, they don’t ask many questions.
All gambling websites I have reviewed at G2G accepts either Skrill, Neteller or Astropay. By using an online wallet you can deposit money instantly to your gaming account and at the same speed withdraw your winnings; without any fees.
The best thing of using an E-wallet (in my case the provider Skrill) is that you will receive a free physical debit card. You can use this card to for withdrawing from ATM’s worldwide and make online purchases, just like any other VISA or Mastercard.
Free mastercard from Skrill
The drawback
There is just one drawback of using online wallets for adding money to your casino or betting account.
You will not be eligible for the welcome bonus. If you want to redeem the welcome deposit offer you must use bank wire or a credit card.
This is truly the big drawback of wanting to gamble on the internet and being Indian. The requirements put up by foreign sites are plain stupid. If you want to use the best deposit method you won’t get the welcome bonus. The reason being in Europe many fraudsters are using online wallets to scam online casinos on the welcome bonus. This is called “bonus hunting” and is a mathematical strategy of taking advantage of the welcome offer.
Step 4. Withdrawing your winnings
Withdrawing is the most important step of the whole payment process when gambling online. Because you want your hard earned winnings, right?
Verifying your account
You need to commit with your full personal details when you are signing up for an account. Don’t use your neighbour, colleague or dog. This will cause you troubles in the long run. Whenever you want to withdraw your money you will have to provide these details and proof of identity. Especially if you win big.
Online gambling websites do not “want” to pay out money, it’s kind of against any company’s business model to give out their profit. Therefore the casinos will make sure YOU have followed the Terms & Conditions to 100%. Providing a false identification will void your winnings faster than you can blink.
This is what you need to verify your account:
- Proof of identity
- A utility bill with your address visible (no older than 90 days)
If you win larger amounts, over 50 000 INR, you will have to provide a bank statement from which includes your name and address.
Tips: Since the gambling sites are operated in overseas it’s important that you verify your account with “universal” identity documents, such as a passport or your Aadhaar card. Do not try to verify your account with ration/vote card, marriage certificate or Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC). I have tried this and was asked to send in a new.
Withdrawing your money safely
I remember the first time I won a considerable amount of money from an online casino. First I was excited and happy then it changed I was happy and a bit dubious. How will this transaction look like on my account?
Will the transaction say “Gambling win: 75 000 INR”? Should I report this to the Income Tax Department? When will I get my money?
Gambling websites are very discreet when it comes to paying out winnings. Usually, it is not even the same company handling financial transactions as operating the brand. The sender can be for example called “Action Group Ltd.” and the message on your bank statement is a reference number.
If you have verified your account in advance and depending on the method you chose to deposit with you will have your money in your account within 24 hours.
And no, don’t report your winnings to the Tax dep.