Betting using Paysafecard

All of today’s online gaming sites, from casinos to sportsbooks to bingo rooms, offer a variety of deposit and withdrawal methods for the convenience of their players. Among one of the up-and-coming options for financial transactions is Paysafecard, a prepaid service especially designed to expedite payments for online goods and services at some 3,500 partner web shops worldwide.

It was in the year 2000 that a group of four Austrian entrepreneurs gathered in Vienna and started the company called Paysafecard.com Wertkarten AG. They launched their inaugural version of the product in November and touted it as “the first prepaid card for payment on the Internet.”

As their business model, the Austrians used the prepaid cards that were already being used in the telecom market. These enable users to pay electronically without disclosing any private data such as bank account or credit card numbers. Transactions are validated simply through use of a unique code.

In this respect, Paysafecard is not a “card” in the traditional sense of a piece of plastic. In most cases, it is a paper voucher called a “Ticket” that can be issued by a participating retail outlet (aka “Affiliate Partner”) or printed out at home if bought online. The Tickets are available in denominations of £10, £25, £50 and £75, which are referred to as the “Load Amount.”

Each Ticket is allocated its own unique 16-digit Personal Identification Number (PIN) at the time of purchase. The PIN is printed on the paper voucher by the Affiliate Partner, except when a pre-printed Paysafecard is bought, in which case the PIN is concealed beneath a scratch-off panel.

The Paysafecard can be used online for purchases at any of the online merchants listed on the Paysafecard.com web site. According to the latest count, there are currently 1,065 gaming web sites on the Internet that accept Paysafecard for financial transactions, including Bet365 Poker, Party Casino, Paddy Power Sportsbook and William Hill Bingo, to name just a few. However, Tickets purchased in the United States can be used online only for purchases at participating U.S. merchants, which precludes most gaming sites.

A single Ticket can be used as often as the owner likes to purchase goods or services, just as long as there is an Available Balance. Tickets never expire and may used for up to one year without any service fee. Thereafter, a charge on the order of £1 per month applies, deducted directly from the Available Balance.

One useful aspect of the Paysafecard is that up to ten Tickets may be used in combination on the same transaction. When setting up a betting account with an online bookmaker, for example, as many as ten £75 Tickets may be combined for funding of up to £750. The Available Balance and transaction record associated with each Ticket/PIN can be checked at any time on the Paysafecard.com web site. Those who wish to obtain a Paysafecard may do so at any one of 350,000 outlets worldwide, including more than 20,000 in the United Kingdom alone. The company has recently claimed that Paysafecard now ranks as Europe’s leading prepaid payment method.

There is, however, one drawback for online bettors. Although Paysafecard is a widely accepted deposit method at gaming web sites, it is not commonly available for withdrawals. That means at least one other financial method must be selected for receiving cash payouts. Also, an Available Balance Refund Fee will apply if a cash refund is requested for any unused portion of the original Load Amount.

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