Withdrawals are often a touchy subject in the online casino industry, as although most people receive their payments seamlessly, most complaints from players tend to revolve around the withdrawal process.
To save yourself from frustration and set the right expectations, it’s important to understand how online casinos process your withdrawals, the potential issues that can arise, and how the withdrawal time can vary.
In this guide, we will cover all of this and more in great detail.
Key Takeaways
- Online casinos often perform a series of checks when processing withdrawals, ensuring that the right payment method is used, KYC requirements are met, no rules have been violated, and withdrawal limits have not been exceeded.
- Most casino sites follow a closed-loop policy, requiring you to withdraw using the same method as your deposit.
- KYC verification is a standard procedure at casinos and will pause your withdrawal until all necessary documents are submitted and verified.
- Violating a casino’s terms and conditions can lead to confiscation of winnings, allowing you to withdraw only your initial deposit.
- Many casinos impose daily, weekly, or monthly withdrawal limits, and if you reach these limits, your withdrawal will be postponed until the new limit period begins.
- The time it takes to receive a withdrawal can vary depending on how quickly the casino processes the request, the payment method used, and any potential issues that may arise during the process.
- To ensure faster withdrawals, it’s best to choose a casino with a reputation for quick payouts. Additionally, using a fast payment method, like e-wallets or cryptocurrencies, can further speed up the process.
- While withdrawal fees can occur, they are normally covered by the casino and not paid by the player, the exception being network fees related to cryptocurrencies.
The General Withdrawal Process
For most online casinos, the withdrawal process follows these steps:
- A player requests a withdrawal of funds via the casino’s cashier.
- The withdrawal ends up in a queue for the casino’s finance department to review.
- The finance department performs the following checks:
- Was the withdrawal requested to the right payment method?
- Is the player KYC verified or is any KYC verification needed?
- Has the player breached any bonus or general casino rules?
- Does the withdrawn amount surpass the withdrawal limit?
- The withdrawal request is either approved or rejected:
- If all checks pass, the payment is approved and paid out to the player.
- If something is wrong, the player is notified by email.
Let’s take a closer look at the factors that can lead to a withdrawal being rejected or delayed.
Requesting Withdrawal to the Right Payment Method
Most online casinos are required to follow a closed-loop policy to prevent money laundering and fraud. This means that any withdrawn funds must be sent back to the same place they came from.
Thus, whatever method you use for deposit must also be used for withdrawal. For example, if you deposit using a Visa card, you cannot withdraw via Skrill or a cryptocurrency wallet. You can only withdraw to that Visa card.
Failure to comply with this policy will result in the casino’s finance department canceling your withdrawal request and asking you to initiate a new one using the correct method.
Note
While the closed-loop policy is the norm among casinos, there are exceptions to the rule. For instance, some cryptocurrency casinos allow you to withdraw more freely.
KYC Verification (Know Your Customer)
Most online casinos are required to verify their players as part of their license requirements and jurisdictional laws. This is commonly done via:
- Identification (Driver’s License, Passport, or National ID Card).
- Proof of Address (Utility Bill or Bank Statement).
The process can also include verification of the payment method used to deposit and/or withdraw, as well as proof of your income.
When KYC verification is requested by the casino, the withdrawal process is paused and no money is paid out until the required documents are submitted and approved.
Most casinos conduct standard KYC checks on the first withdrawal request, while other documents (especially documents that prove your income) tend to be requested at a later stage (or not at all).
To learn more about KYC, check out our full KYC article.
Breach of Casino Rules
Online casinos typically have a long list of rules that they tend to enforce quite strictly.
In many cases, the rules are there to protect the casino from players abusing it, such as creating multiple accounts to take part in multiple welcome bonuses.
However, in some cases, especially with more dishonest casinos, the rules also act as an excuse for the casino not having to pay out if they are breached.
In many cases, breaching a casino’s general rules or bonus terms and conditions results in the confiscation of winnings, with only your original deposit being returned to you.
When requesting a withdrawal, the casino’s finance department checks for:
- Duplicate accounts:
- If the same payment method has been used on multiple accounts.
- If the same IP address has been used on multiple accounts.
- If the same personal details have been used on multiple accounts.
- Breach of VPN rules:
- If a VPN has been used to bypass game restrictions (in cases where this isn’t allowed).
- Breach of bonus rules:
- If any restricted games have been played.
- If any disallowed play pattern has been noted.
- If the maximum bet limit of the bonus has been exceeded.
Withdrawal Limits
While some online casinos allow any amount to be withdrawn at any time, it is common to find maximum limits on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
For example, these limits can range from $500 to $2,500 per day, $1,000 to $5,000 per week, and $10,000 to $40,000 per month.
If a limit has been reached, the casino will normally not cancel your withdrawal request, but it won’t approve it until you’ve entered a new period that allows for the requested amount to be cashed out.
Note
In addition to maximum withdrawal limits, it is not uncommon for casino bonuses to have maximum amounts that can be won from them.
If this is the case and you request a withdrawal that exceeds this amount, the casino will adjust your withdrawal (by removing excess winnings) and then approve it.
How Long Does It Take to Receive the Payment?
After requesting a withdrawal of funds, how long it takes to receive them depends on three factors:
- The casino’s general processing time.
- The transaction time of the payment method used.
- Any potential issues that may arise.
The internal processing time at online casinos can vary widely from one to another. The general timeframe, in which most casinos fall, ranges from 24 to 72 hours.
However, there are also plenty of casino sites that process withdrawals within mere hours, and in some cases instantly, while some have processing times that surpass 72 hours.
If any issues arise during processing, such as KYC being required or you cashed out via another payment method than the ones used for deposit, this could prolong the withdrawal time. By how much depends on how efficiently you and the casino deals with the underlaying factor of the delay.
Once a payment is approved by the casino, the method you use to withdraw dictates how long it takes to receive the money. Different payment methods have different transaction times.
Here’s a general breakdown of such times:
- E-Wallets (Skrill, Neteller, MiFinity, etc): Instant transactions.
- Cryptocurrencies: a few minutes up to a couple of hours (depending on network congestion).
- Debit Cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex): 1 – 5 bank days.
- Wire Transfers (unless it’s instant banking): 1 – 5 bank days (up to 15 in the US).
- Instant Banking (Trutstly, Revolut, Rapid Transfer): instant – 24 hours.
- MatchPay (peer-to-peer): instant to a few hours.
While the general timeframes above apply in most cases, some payment methods behave differently depending on how they are used at specific casinos.
For example, Revolut withdrawals in the US are often processed via bank wire transfers rather than instant banking, while peer-to-peer systems like MatchPay rely on user matching to complete transactions.
You can learn more about these in our detailed guides on Revolut withdrawals at US casinos and MatchPay-supported casinos.
How to Get the Fastest Withdrawals
To make sure you get the fastest possible withdrawals at casino sites, you can:
- Play at a casino with fast processing times
- This is the number one way to go. If you value speed above else, choose a casino that’s known for its instant withdrawals.
- Use a fast payment method
- Opt for a payment method with a short or instant transaction time such as e-wallets or cryptocurrencies. Remember to use it for deposits to enable withdrawals with it as per the closed-loop policy previously covered.
- Be an obedient and loyal player
- Loyal players (especially high rollers) generally get their withdrawals prioritized by the casino. They end up in a special withdrawal queue and are checked faster.
- Even if you’re not a high roller, some casinos flag the accounts of loyal, verified and unproblematic players to allow for automatic withdrawals without any checks (just checks every now and then).
- Complete KYC early
- Doing KYC verification as soon as possible is great, as not only will this prevent interfering with your withdrawal once you request one. You can also be sure that you don’t accidentally have any duplicate accounts with the casino, which could lead to the confiscation of funds.
- Avoid using bonuses
- While we do recommend using bonuses for their ability to increase chances to profit, not taking part in them means fewer potential hiccups in rules being reached. The casino is also more likely to flag you for automatic withdrawals if you never use bonus offers.
Not every casino is the same, and not every casino flags for automatic withdrawals. Some casinos don’t even provide high rollers with faster timeframes.
To find a gambling site with fast withdrawals, we highly recommend checking out our comprehensive list of fast withdrawal casinos.
Are Fees Charged for Withdrawals?
Fees on casino withdrawals are generally rare and most commonly occur with cryptocurrency transactions, where a network fee applies to each transfer.
These fees are usually small, but they can vary depending on the blockchain being used. For example, Ethereum fees can increase during periods of high network activity, which may make withdrawals more expensive than usual. To learn more, see our guide to how Ethereum casinos work.
While fiat transactions typically involve fees too, most online casinos absorb these costs rather than passing them on to players.
There are exceptions, however, with some casinos charging a fixed fee or a percentage of the withdrawal amount. Always check the casino’s terms and conditions or contact customer support to confirm any applicable fees.
Fiat vs Cryptocurrency Casinos: What Is the Difference?
In many cases, there is no difference in the withdrawal process between fiat and cryptocurrency casinos. This is especially true for casino sites that offer a mix of both payment types.
However, casinos that operate exclusively with cryptocurrency often rely on automated withdrawal systems. This can result in faster payout times, especially once KYC verification has been passed.
In addition, some crypto-focused platforms apply reduced or conditional identity verification during standard withdrawals. Commonly referred to as crypto casinos with no routine KYC, this means identity checks are not a default requirement.
That being said, even at such casinos verification may still occur in specific situations.