Visa Betting sites

What is Visa and why is popular at online bookmakers?

Come on, everyone knows what Visa is, it’s a company that issues credit and debit cards that you can use for online shopping, right? Well, actually, that’s a common misconception! The card you have in your wallet is actually issued by your bank, not by Visa – Visa has nothing to do with the plastic in your hand! However, as a company, it manages the network that unifies all of the different cards together.

Let’s say, for example, that you’re using your Visa card to deposit at an online bookmaker. Your bank will tell Visa that you have authorized this transaction, and then Visa will handle the transfer of funds from your bank account to the seller’s account (in this case, the bookie). This is different from a bank transfer, where it’s your bank using a system like SWIFT, Interac, or something else (depending on where you live) to initiate the transfer. In the simplest of terms, imagine you want to send a letter to someone – your card serves as nothing but the envelope, while Visa’s network is the mailman delivering it to its destination!

Visa’s network encompasses practically every country, so it makes both local and international transfers very simple, affordable, and convenient. This also explains why it’s such a prominent payment method across online bookmakers: most people are connected to the network in one way or another! The United States alone has nearly a billion Visa cards (so almost three per person), so you can imagine how many people use Visa on a global scale! On top of that, you don’t actually need a Visa card to receive money through Visa’s network, which makes supporting this method even more enticing for bookmakers.

Football betting

When most players are placing a deposit with Visa at an online bookmaker, chances are they’re doing it to bet on football! Indeed, football is not only the most popular sport in the world, but also arguably the most popular gambling activity of the modern age. Whenever a big league (such as UEFA Champion’s League or Premier League) starts, lots of people start placing bets on the most important matches, and they typically use Visa. That is because most people who gamble on football are just regular folk and not hardened punters, so they’re most likely to use a payment method they already have.

Tennis betting

Football is undoubtedly the most popular sport, but when it comes to gambling, tennis is definitely its close second! You might be surprised by this, perhaps because we don’t tend to think of tennis as some kind of big sport, but when the big tournaments like ATF get going, all bets are off – literally! Just like with football, Visa is one of the most popular payment options simply because it’s so big and widespread, and also, a lot of the people who would wager on tennis matches aren’t seasoned gamblers. Don’t take this to mean that tennis matches are boring and only for casual gamblers, though – the big leagues can get just as intense as even the most heated up football match!

Esports betting

Esports haven’t always been considered to be real sports, let alone ones worthy of placing bets on, and yet, the customer is always right, and the market speaks for itself. Once esports betting was introduced to a few sites as an experiment, it blew up almost instantly, leading to nearly all bookies adopting it in some way, shape, or form. Unlike football and tennis, most esports wagers are done with crypto or e-wallets, and yet things change dramatically when big tournaments like The International or OWL start playing! These events attract a lot of casual gamers who like the game, but aren’t used to betting – and most will make their first deposit with a common method like Visa.

Basketball betting

You might be surprised that we haven’t mentioned basketball earlier, but the reason for that is simple: it’s simply not as popular as other forms of gambling can be.

Most basketball leagues aren’t particularly notable or well-known among the general public. How many can you name, personally? Chances are, exactly one: the NBA!

Yes, although most leagues are very obscure, the NBA is more than popular to attract mainstream attention, especially when big players like LeBron James are doing dribbles on the court. And, as we’ve established, players interested in more mainstream sports will use more mainstream methods to deposit, such as Visa.

Elections betting

Elections can be very stressful… but they don’t have to be! Granted, it’s usually the future of a major superpower at stake, and if the elections turn out a certain way global democracy might be under threat, but at the same time, wouldn’t it be nice if you could make a few bucks out of a potential socioeconomic crisis? In all seriousness, most people in this day and age can be pretty passionate about the candidate or political party that they support, and big elections (for example, the US Presidential Election) always bring out a lot of new gamblers. As you can imagine, a lot of them will place their wager using a commonly found payment method like Visa.

Visa taxes

At this point, you might be wondering whether Visa will charge you any fees for deposits or withdrawals. The short answer is “yes”, but the long answer is a little complicated. You see, the fees that Visa actually charges are actually quite small – all transactions carry a fixed assessment fee of of between 1.15% and 2.40%, depending on the size of the transaction and the location of the banks. This will apply everywhere, even if you buy a soda from a grocery store with a Visa card, 1.15% from the price of that soda will go to Visa. It’s how they make a profit and maintain their network.

But since these fees are so small, most online bookmakers tend to swallow them most of the time. For deposits, the fee will always be covered – if you deposit €50, you’ll receive €50 in your account, not €49.42, which is realistically what the bookie would have received from you. Similarly, a lot of sites will not count the fee when accepting withdrawals, though most will deduct it from your winnings before completing the transaction. There are some sites that will spike the fee to as high as 5%, but that’s often due to unusual circumstances and will be disclosed to you.

Visa global coverage

When we said earlier that Visa is one of the most popular payment methods around the world, we really mean that! Practically every country supports Visa, which means that, no matter where you live, you’ll likely be able to just walk into your local bank and request a Visa debit or credit card. Unlike other cards, like American Express, Visa’s outreach is truly global and encompassing, so you don’t need to worry about this option being unavailable in your country!

With that said, there are, technically, some countries that can’t get a Visa card due to sanctions – but we’re talking about places like North Korea or Iran, which we assume you aren’t from if you’re reading this currently. If you ended up on this page, we can practically guarantee that Visa will be available to you as a payment option!

New bookmakers accepting Visa

Earlier in this article, we gave you a list of some bookmakers which accept deposits using Visa – some of which are brand new, while others have existed for quite a lot of years. However, new online bookies keep showing up every day, and we physically can’t keep updating our article to reflect them all. So, why not let machine take over what man has failed at? Below you’ll find a table that will automatically update with a curated list of new, high-quality bookies that will allow you to deposit with Visa! Isn’t technology grand?

Bottom line

At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember about Visa is that it has two major advantages: one, it’s extremely common (most people, probably including you, already own a Visa card), and two, it’s very convenient and safe to use. Visa is a huge corporation with a 0% chance of scamming you or withholding your payment for no good reason, and any money that goes through it will be instantly accessible via the plastic you already carry in your wallet.

The downside is that withdrawals can get quite long, but this honestly isn’t that big of a deal as far as most people are concerned. So, if you’re someone who doesn’t mind waiting, or prioritizes safety and convenience over time, Visa is probably the method you should consider using when making a deposit at your favorite online bookmaker!