The Rise of Mobile Casino Gaming: How Payment Methods Are Adapting
Mobile casino gaming continues to grow in popularity. Sites offer ever-increasing ranges of games, including innovative technologies like live dealer games and even VR games. And, at the same time, the mobile phones we play on continue to improve.
Even commissions and governmental bodies are updating regulatory frameworks to better match the rapid pace of advances we’re seeing at online casinos. With more players, higher deposits, and more games, this means mobile casinos need improved payment solutions for their customers.
Secure Online Deposits And Withdrawals
Even ten years ago, the mobile casino market was dominated by credit card and Skrill digital wallet payments, with few alternative options. But players now have a much wider range of options for secure deposits and withdrawals.vAccording to gambling writer Alex Hoffmann, credit cards remain one of the most popular options for making payments today, because most people have them, they are convenient, and the majority of casinos accept this tried and trusted payment method.
Nonetheless, other options have emerged. Digital wallets, mobile payments, and cryptocurrencies are some of the most common options.
The Rise Of Digital Wallets
Digital wallets were one of the first online payment options that attempted to take on the might of credit cards and bank payments. Wallets like PayPal enable users to deposit cash from their bank accounts or credit cards into their online wallets, and then use the funds to pay for services, or as a means of depositing cash into online accounts.
Once the money is in a digital wallet, payments are usually instant, and they offer an additional layer of security for the user. Digital wallets have become even more feature-rich, and they have invested large sums of money to ensure they continue to offer secure transactions.
However, not all casinos accept digital wallets, and most wallet services charge quite high fees for transactions. Fees do vary according to the payment type used, the wallet used, and other factors, but they can add a reasonable amount to every deposit made to a mobile casino.
Mobile Payments
Mobile payments have become very popular, replacing credit cards and bank payments for a lot of people. They’re especially convenient because the majority of adults have smartphones, which have mobile payment capabilities.
Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other mobile wallets are typically used for physical contactless payments, but these mobile payment wallets can also be used to make payments online, including on some mobile casino apps.
Not all casinos accept mobile wallet payments, but where they do, they can offer a fee-free payment method. Mobile wallets offer many of the same benefits as digital wallets, and they use tokenization, which means card and bank details are not transmitted when making payments, so the payments are typically secure. Their popularity also means more mobile casinos are starting to accept this relatively modern payment method.
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies were launched in 2009 with the introduction of Bitcoin. One of Bitcoin’s first uses was actually as a means of betting on dice, with a game called Satoshi dice.
Wallet addresses were set up for each possible outcome of a dice roll and players sent money from their own wallets to the wallet of their chosen bet. A dice was rolled and bets were returned, with winnings, to the original wallet address.
Bitcoin casinos have moved on since then, and they are indiscernible from other online casinos, except that they accept Bitcoin, Ether, Doge, and some other cryptos. Cryptocurrency is highly secure, offers instant payment, and has minimal fees. The minimal fees casinos are charged for accepting and sending crypto payments can get passed on to customers, in the form of bigger jackpot prizes and better bonuses.
However, cryptocurrency is more complicated than other payment methods. It requires the use of a crypto exchange to swap fiat currency for cryptocurrency and necessitates the use of crypto wallets, including either convenient software wallets or more secure hardware wallets. The likes of Bitcoin and other major cryptos are also highly volatile, which can lead to an unexpected loss of value.
Stablecoins
This volatility is a major problem for a lot of users. What’s the point of winning money only to have lost the winnings to a Bitcoin price drop that occurred while your crypto holding was sitting in your casino account? Cryptocurrency prices do go up, as well as down, which means it is possible to make money, as well, but it’s unpredictable, and that deters a lot of users.
Fortunately, there is a type of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins. Stablecoins are tied to the value of assets like US Dollars and maintain the same value relative to that asset. One Tether is always worth one dollar, for example. This means that Tether users can enjoy the same highly-encrypted security of other cryptocurrencies, as well as lighting fast transactions, without having to worry about volatile price movements.
Stablecoins are commonly accepted by mobile casinos that do accept crypto, but they still require the use of crypto exchanges and wallets to send and receive payments.
Extensive Payment Options
For most players, choice is what matters. From the choice of games being offered to the choice of payment method. Fortunately, most casino apps do offer this choice.
Traditional payment methods are still offered, and thanks to the disruptive nature of cryptocurrency, we are likely to see improvements in these methods too. Banks are already utilizing blockchain technology to help expedite payment systems and ensure quicker deposits and withdrawals.
The same technology also improves transaction security and can help minimize fraud. And, currently, central banks around the world are investigating so-called Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
These are digital versions of local currencies that are minted on the blockchain, but the banks are likely to make it easier to purchase and even send and receive payments.
Biometric And 2FA Authentication
It isn’t just the range of payment methods that is expanding, either. We continue to see improvements in payment technology and security.
For example, mobile casinos, which are located on mobile devices, are increasingly offering biometric authentication alongside traditional user verification techniques. This helps improve physical and digital security on devices.
Two-factor authentication, which sees PINs delivered to a user’s mobile device can further enhance the security of payments made, and this technology, too, is seeing increased usage across the industry as well as within payment technologies.
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