E-wallets at an Online Casino
E-wallets are a popular form of payment at many casinos because gamblers love them. A lot of people who gamble love their privacy, and appreciate the fact that most E-wallets offer deep encryption, security, anonymity, and convenience. Isn’t this everything we need in an online payment system?
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Types of E-Wallets
Paypal – probably the most mainstream e-wallet in the world. There are some countries where PayPal is blocked, like Syria, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Burma, Belarus, Zimbabwe. If you look at PayPal’s official website, you’ll also find that “Persons Undermining the Sovereignty of Lebanon or Its Democratic Processes” are also banned. We’re not sure how they’re checking this, but better make sure you are Lebanon friendly before you open an account.
Aside from PayPal, there is the newly available BayanPay owned by Finablr. Here’s a more detailed list of e-wallets and digital wallets:
- PayPal
- BayanPay
- Skrill
- Yandex Money
- WebMoney
- Todito Cash
- Ewire
- Moneta.ru
- OneCard
- Mobiamo
- Mint
- ecoPayz
- Google Pay
- Apple Pay
- Microsoft Wallet
- Samsung Pay
- PayNearMe
- MyCitadel
- PayForIt
- Mygate
- Ingenico
- Strategic Funding
- G2A Pay
- WafaCash
- HiPay
- QHWR / BillriantPay.
How to Open an E-Wallet Account
When you open an e-wallet account, you don’t have to connect it to your bank account if you don’t want to. The e-wallet can be its own separate entity. You can use it to pay for shopping, e-books, subscriptions or other online services like in-app purchases. It’s useful to connect your bank account to an e-wallet because then, you can transfer money in and out without a problem.
Saudi Arabia has a growing e-wallet market. Did you know that Saudi Arabia aims to become a cashless society and has a goal of steering 70% of transactions to being e-payment based by 2030? This means that connecting your accounts will only become easier and more convenient as time goes by. There are some ambitious plans in the works, and money will exchange hands easier and faster.
As a society, the Saudis are still a bit concerned about privacy when it comes to online transactions with their official credit cards or bank cards. This is why e-wallets and pre-paid cards are experiencing a boom.
E-Wallet Features
There are several features that e-wallets have in common.
Fees – You will be charged a fee for transactions that you make. Some e-wallets have higher fees than others, and e-wallets like PayPal will have free transactions between friends and family, or from your own bank accounts if you qualify. It’s best to see which options are available to you, and which one is the cheapest.
Safe online transactions – This is both a great plus and minus at the same time. You get very secure online transactions, but you are limited to online transactions only – there are a few brick-and-mortar stores that have started to accept bitcoin, but they are in the minority. Unless you have your e-wallet linked with your banking account, you won’t be able to spend your money offline.
Instant transfers – There are no waiting periods once a payment goes through (aside from any normal casino processing time). The e-wallet transactions happen instantly.
Some people are still slightly confused about the difference between an e-wallet and a digital wallet. Isn’t any wallet operated form your phone or online an e-wallet? Well, no.
Digital Wallet – Stores your credit and bank card information. Your payments are deducted directly from your bank. You can’t have it separate!
E-Wallet – Your money is in your wallet, with no need to register with your bank. It operates separately, anonymously and you can use and still have your privacy.
Closed Wallet – A closed wallet is somewhat of a “gift card” – you can only spend your money at a particular place. This can’t be used on any other website other than an issuing website. A good example of this is an Amazon wallet. Although Amazon has many different stores and services, you can’t use it anywhere outside of Amazon.
Open Wallet – An open wallet is connected to your bank, and you can spend and withdraw money. You can withdraw money from your open e-wallet into your bank account.
Semi-Closed Wallet – This will limit where you can spend your money, but you can have it linked with your bank account. This is a great way to secure your spending and set budgets. You can’t make withdrawals when you have a semi-closed wallet. Paytm or Citrus are considered Semi-Closed wallets.
Arab Countries Where E-Wallet Services Are Available
You can get an e-wallet in any Arabic country. And since Saudi Arabia is taking switching to a cash-free society very seriously, chances are that there are going to be more and more types of e-wallets available in the future. Did you know that there were over 21 million e-wallet transactions in 2019 alone? And they were worth over SAR 1.5 billion. That’s not a number to take lightly.
Digital wallets and e-wallets launched over the past two years include Mada Pay, STC Pay, and Apple Pay – you can use them in-store as well as online. The rules for starting an e-wallet vary from company to company, and can also radically change over time. For example, you can have a PayPal account and you can link it to a KSA bank. You need to be a merchant with a registered store though! In Saudi Arabia, you may need to receive a phone call from PayPal customer support and verify your identity before they let you use your account. It’s a long process, but the convenience you can enjoy after is well worth it.
These are the most popular e-wallets and payment systems in Arab countries: Skrill, Mygate, Ingenico, Strategic Funding, G2A Pay, WafaCash, HiPay, QHWR/BillriantPay.
This list is changing all the time because there are more secure payment options that are becoming available in Arab countries – let’s face it, technology is progressing, and so are new laws everywhere, especially in Saudi Arabia.
