The move to online gaming has been a fascinating one, with more and more companies realising the benefit of having a casino attached to their sportsbook or bingo offerings. With that, though, has come a raft of customers who aren’t too sure how it all works, desperate to get involved but not wanting to make a mistake or do the wrong thing. One area in which there can be a bit of confusion is with how much you need to deposit into your account in order to start playing games online, which isn’t always clear.
One of the reasons why it isn’t always clear is that there isn’t a hard and fast rule that is obeyed by all online casinos. You might find that Company A wants you to deposit at least £10, for example, whilst Company B asks for £20. On top of that, the actual method that you use to deposit money into your account will dictate what the minimum amount is in each instance. An attempt to do a bank transfer, say, might need more to be paid in than deposits using PayPal, so the best thing to do is to look for each specific instance.
Why Go Low?
The first question you might ask is why, exactly, you’d want to go with a casino that has a low minimum deposit. Obviously for some people it isn’t so much a question of why they might but that they have to, simply based on the fact that they don’t have a huge amount of money available to them. Financial restraints aren’t the only reason why someone might choose to play at a minimum deposit casino, however. It makes sense for some people to opt to keep their deposit low for other reasons, not least of which is inexperience.
By that we don’t necessarily mean inexperience as a bettor, but a lack of experience in knowing what the online casino in question has to offer. It is entirely reasonable to point out that online casinos differ from each other in a wealth of ways, including the actual games that they have to offer. You also need to take into account the likes of the Return to Player percentages that the slots promise, as well as how quickly a casino is willing to pay out on winnings. Most of this is stuff that you only really find out once you’ve joined.
If you’re at all unsure about the online casino that you’re signing up to use, it makes sense to deposit just a small amount of money until you’re more comfortable that it offers you what you want. It is also worth bearing in mind that making a small deposit doesn’t mean that you can’t make a larger deposit in the future, nor does it mean that you can’t win big if your luck comes in. Random Number Generators usually decide who will win and how much they’ll win, with things like your deposit account completely irrelevant to that.
Why Do Casinos Set Limits?
It is perfectly fair to question why a casino even has a minimum deposit amount when you’re thinking about which site to bet with. After all, when one online casinos is asking for a minimum deposit of £1 and another is asking for as much as £20, it might seem as though the second casino is taking the Mickey. In reality, online casinos are just like physical, land-based ones insomuch as they need to strike a balance between doing what they can to attract punters and ensure that they’re able to wash their faces financially.
In most cases, it is the developer of the games that you play that decides the minimum stake amount on said games. As a result, casinos need to ensure that bettors are going to have enough funds in their account to be able to play the games. In addition to that, slot games will often have an RTP% of as high as 99%, meaning that they will make, on average, £100 for every £1,000 wagered. It is in their interest for bettors to go big with their deposits, given that they will mathematically lose most of it over time.
How You Want to Pay
In a lot of instances, you’ll find that the restriction in terms of how much you can deposit is actually forced on you by your deposit method rather than the online casino that you’re using. As an example, the smallest voucher that you can buy for a PaySafeCard is £10, so if that’s your deposit method then you’re hamstrung by that. NeTeller, meanwhile, has a minimum deposit amount of £5 associated with it, so that makes things much easier if you’re somewhat on a budget.
There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to different payment methods, but the below gives you a good sense of the minimum that you’re likely to be asked to pay if you choose one of them:
- PaySafeCard: £10
- PayPal: £5
- Pay by Phone: 20 Pence
- Skrill: £10
- NeTeller: £5
Casino Deposits Matter
Having said all of the above, there’s no doubt that casinos are the ultimate arbiters of how much people need to deposit into their accounts. You might well be able to deposit a minimum of 20 pence with the Pay by Phone service, for example, but that isn’t the minimum that a casino is going to be asking for. Again, there is no hard and fast rule, but there are definitely casinos out there that will allow users to deposit a minimum of £1, £3 or £5. You just need to know where to look and to do your best to find them if you can.
In reality, it is going to be about find a combination of factors that work for you. Is it important that you deposit the lowest amount possible, or that you can use your preferred payment method to get money into your account? Those are questions that only you can answer, so it is worth asking yourself them before you look for a casino. You might also find that what the casino offers in terms of games and other benefits outweighs the minimum deposit amounts in your mind, which can also be something of a deciding factor.