How to get money into an online casino (for U.S. players)

Last update: November 10, 2025

How you deposit into an online casino depends on whether it’s legal for casinos to operate in your state, since there are offshore casinos that take players from most states even though they’re not supposed to, because online gambling laws are rarely enforced.  (One such casino that takes players from the unregulated states is this site’s sponsor, Bovada, but of course I'm not encouraging you to break the law if online gambling is illegal in your state.)

The reason that deposit methods are different for the regulated and offshore casinos is that banks don’t want to touch money related to the offshore ones.  Of course, there are ways around that, as we’ll see.  Anyway, here’s the summary.

Let’s see the details.

1. Credit cards

REGULATED CASINOS:  Credit cards usually work.
OFFSHORE CASINOS:  Credit cards sometimes work.

Credit cards are hit-or-miss:  they might work and they might not.   Also, a card that works one day might not work the next.  (But then it might start working again in the future.)  I've had success at one point or another with cards from Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, First Equity, MBNA, and Washington Mutual—but not every time.

Note that at unregulated casinos, you might have to pay a fee (like 4.9%) to use your card.   Blame that on the hat dance that casinos use to disguise the nature of the transactions so that banks don't block the use of the card, which is expensive for them.  It’s also probably illegal for the casinos to do that, which is why many casinos have stopped even taking credit cards and want their players to switch to crypto like Tether/USDT.

2. Cryptocurrency / Tether / USDT

REGULATED CASINOS:  Not an option

OFFSHORE CASINOS:  Always an option

The main way to get money in and out of an offshore casino is with cryptocurrency.  You’ve heard of Bitcoin, but a lesser-known crypto called Tether (symbol: USDT) is better for various reasons I won’t detail here.  Here’s how it works:

1. You open an account with a crypto service like Bitstamp (or one of their competitors).
2. You transfer money from your bank account to your crypto account, and buy crypto.
3. You send your crypto from your crypto account to online merchants who accept them, like online casinos.

You can also use your crypto account to receive crypto  from others, such as a payout of casino winnings:

1. The casino sends crypto to your crypto account.
2. The crypto service lets you sell the crypto to convert it to U.S. dollars.
3. You transfer the U.S. dollars to your bank account.

I have a separate article that explains all about cryptocurrencies.

3. Transfer from your bank

REGULATED CASINOS:  Always an option
OFFSHORE CASINOS:  Rarely an option.

This is rarely an option with offshore casinos.  Even if it is, you might be rightly wary of giving an offshore online casino access to your bank account, and if you are, I don't blame you.  And even if the casino allows it, and even if you’re willing to try it, your bank will reject the transfer if they can identify it as being for an offshore casinos.

The solution is to just use cryptocurrency, which all offshore casinos accept.

 

4. Western Union (aka "Money Transfer")

Don't use this method.  It's cumbersome, Western Union charges hefty fees, and they have pathetic customer service. 

5. Online payment services

No longer an option!   Everyone used to use PayPal, then PayPal stopped handling gambling transactions.  Then we switched to Neteller, but the feds subsequently forced them to stop serving U.S. customers, too.  A number of smaller processors sprang up, but the feds smacked them all down as well.  Even if you can find such a processor, they won't last long, and you risk losing your money if the processor is holding it when they get smacked.

Cashing out

Okay, that's how you get money in.  How do you get money out when you win big? 
REGULATED CASINOS

1. Bank transfer
2. PayPal
3. Prepaid card (withdraw cash from it at an ATM)
4. Casino cage (for online casinos which have a brick-and-mortar version)
5. Check by mail

OFFSHORE CASINOS

1. Cryptocurrency (always)
2. Check in the mail (rarely an option)

Note that the casino might require that you fax them a copy of your ID before your first withdrawal.  Don't freak out, that's just standard security protocol at many online gaming sites to make sure that no one else is pretending to be you and trying to steal your money.