The Best Betting Payment Methods in the UK in December 2024

Debit Card

Debit cards have been used to make betting site deposits for decades, and they are still the most popular option by far among UK sports bettors. Also known as a bank card, a debit card is linked directly to a bank account. Any purchase or cash transfer made with a debit card is funded at the point of transaction by the linked account. In other words, the cash that you spend with a debit card will be deducted from your bank account straight away. If you don’t have enough money in the account to fund the transaction, it will be declined by the bank.

One of the best things about using debit cards is that most people who have a bank account already have one. They are also accepted at almost all of the safest online betting sites.

PayPal

PayPal is probably the most famous e-wallet in the world. Millions of people use it for online shopping and cash transfers, and there are now quite a few PayPal betting sites for bettors to choose from. Because it’s a wallet, you will need to transfer funds to your PayPal account or link it to a different payment method before you can use it. Most often, people choose to link it to a credit card or bank account, but if you want to bet, you’ll need to avoid the credit card approach.

A key advantage of using PayPal is that it serves as a middleman between your funding source and the recipient of your cash, so it’s very secure. You don’t have to give your debit card or bank account details to the bookmaker. Just provide your PayPal address, authorise the transaction and the betting site will receive your deposit within a matter of seconds.

Check out our list of recommended PayPal betting sites.

Paysafecard

Paysafecard is another e-wallet, but this one doesn’t need to be linked to a bank account or any other funding souce. Instead, you can load the account with cash. Simply buy yourself a Paysafecard from any authorised sales outlet (these include ASDA and WHSmith) with however much cash you want to have on it, and you’ll be ready to go. Paysafecard betting sites are popping up all over the place, and all you have to do to make a deposit is provide your 16-digit code and the amount you want to transfer.

An unregistered card will let you make payments of up to £40. If you want to deposit more than that in one go, you’ll need to register by providing your personal details. That will allow you to make transactions of up to £1,000.

Google Pay

Once upon a time, Google was just a search engine, but today it’s a whole lot more. Google Pay is a payment method that sits on your smartphone and can be used to pay for online purchases, taxi rides, takeaway meals and more. Google Pay betting sites are ones that allow you to make deposits using the same system. Simply link a funding source to your Google Pay account, and you can then use that method to make deposits and withdrawals.

Like e-wallets, Google Pay allows you to bet online without giving the bookmaker your bank account details. Of course, you’ll need to fund your Google Pay account with something other than a credit card due to the UKGC ban on those, but that’s the case right across the board.

While most people associate Google Pay with Android devices, it’s worth noting that the Google Pay app is also available for iOS smartphones running iOS 10.0 or higher.

Apple Pay

Apple Pay was launched in 2014, a few years before Google decided to introduce its own offering. It works in much the same way as the Google Pay method just described, with your account funded by a linked bank account or similar source. The big difference here is that Apple Pay is exclusively available on iOS devices, so you won’t be able to use it if you use an Android smartphone.

Most online bookmakers that accept Google Pay also serve as Apple Pay betting sites. That makes perfect sense when you consider that Android and Apple are the two biggest mobile platforms, and most of us have a device running on one or the other. Again, no financial details are passed onto the betting site, so you can make deposits and withdrawals without worrying about data breaches.

Skrill

This is an e-wallet that was launched in 2001 as Moneybookers. In 2011 it announced that it would be rebranding as Skrill, and in 2015 it was acquired by Paysafe Limited – the same company that owns Paysafecard. As with most other e-wallets, you can fund your Skrill account in a number of ways, and no details of your chosen funding source will be shared with the Skrill betting sites that you choose to use.

Neteller

Neteller has been around since 1999. For a long time, Skrill was its main competitor in the e-wallet niche, but Paysafe Limited also acquired Neteller, and so the two rivals now belong to the same family. Probably due to this historical rivalry, Neteller betting sites tend to be those that also accept Skrill, and the two betting payment methods are very similar. In fact, you could think of them as the Pepsi and Coke of the e-wallet world.

Trustly

Trustly is a betting payment method that is linked directly to an online bank account. Once you’ve set up that link, you can make deposits at Trustly betting sites simply by selecting the method and authorising the transaction. The ability to provide authorisation using biometric data (for example, a fingerprint or facial recognition if your smartphone allows one or both of those options) helps you to make transactions quickly and securely.

To help you choose the right option, we’ve done the research on the best Trustly betting sites.

Pay by Mobile

Another very popular betting payment method these days is Pay by Mobile. We’re not talking about paying via apps or things like Apple Pay or Google Pay but via your mobile contract provider. You make a deposit with a betting site that accepts the Pay by Mobile method, and the cost of that deposit is automatically added to your monthly phone bill. This approach can be very convenient because mobile users already have everything in place to make a deposit. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to make withdrawals the same way, so if you win, you’ll need to make alternative withdrawal arrangements.

Bank Transfer

The bank transfer is a direct transfer of funds from your bank account to the bank account of the bookmaker you intend to bet with, or vice versa if you make withdrawals in the same way.  While many banks now ofter a Faster Transfer option that can see transactions being completed within two hours, regular transactions at bank transfer betting sites can take up to three or four working days. For that reason, bank transfers tend to be viewed as a final option by most online betting fans.

Telegram Betting

Telegram betting is one of the newest ways of wagering with a bookmaker on mobile devices. You’ll need to download the Telegram app to your device before you can do this, and you must register with the bookmaker as a Telegram user. You will then be able to place bets from your funded account. Some Telegram betting sites will allow you to authorise debit card deposits to your account by providing your CV2 number. Of course, this is assuming that the bookmaker already has the rest of your card details on file.

Credit Cards

Also known as charge cards in the US, credit cards allow users to borrow money from the card issuer to make purchases and cash transactions. Customers are then billed monthly and can either settle the whole balance or make a smaller payment and pay interest on the remainder. While credit cards were banned in the UK for gambling purposes in 2020, they remain a popular choice at non-UKGC betting sites based elsewhere.

Revolut

Revolut is a fintech company that was launched in 2015 to change the way people spend and transfer money. It offers a variety of financial services, including banking, trading and virtual cards, and for a while, it was possible for UK bettors to fund their betting accounts with a Revolut card. Because this worked in much the same way as a credit card, the use of Revolut for betting purposes was also banned in the UK in 2020, but the method continues to be accepted by some betting sites that are outside the scope of UKGC regulations.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum give their users a high level of anonymity and have been used to fund online betting accounts for years. There is no law explicitly forbidding the use of cryptocurrencies for betting in the UK, but any gambling site that wants to legally operate in this country must meet UKGC requirements in order to be licensed. Thus far, there are no UKGC-regulated betting sites that accept crypto, but that may well change in the future. In the meantime, Bitcoin betting sites and similar are quite popular in other countries.