A month ago, we told you about the state of bet funding in the legal prepaid gambling market.
Effectively, the outcome of all that was this: Other than new cryptocurrency gambling options being added to the banking menus at the top gambling sites, traditional or legacy options are what they are and nothing new is likely to come along.
Yes, there’s a small chance that P2P/eWallet services might be supported by more sites via platforms similar to gambling vouchers or MatchPay, but it’s unlikely you’ll ever be able to directly fund your online betting account using PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, Apple Cash, Google Pay, etc.
For all intents and purposes, everything “new” in the way of online gambling bankroll management will be limited to new cryptos.
Right now, most sites support a handful of cryptocurrency deposit and withdrawal options. The most common of these, naturally, is Bitcoin (BTC).
Prepaid Bitcoin gambling is practically universal, and no legit online gambling site doesn’t take BTC. That said, most all sites also take Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, while Ethereum, Ripple, Dogecoin, and Tether support is almost universal as of 2022.
That said, Ethereum in particular is falling out of favor at some reputable gambling venues due to its increasingly high transfer fees and potential day-long transfer times. (Albeit both issues should be resolved sometime in 2023 with the launch of Ethereum 2.0, which we’ll cover extensively when the time comes.)
Meanwhile, the BetOnline family of sites – that is, BetOnline AG, SportsBetting AG, and SuperSlots AG – has the biggest crypto betting selection, boasting support for all of the above plus 10 other crypto coins that no rival venues currently include in their banking menus.
These include the following:
- ApeCoin (APE)
- Avalanche (AVAX)
- Binance Coin (BNB)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Chainlink (LINK)
- Polygon (MATIC)
- Shiba Inu (SHIB)
- Solana (SOL)
- Stellar (XLM)
- USD Coin (USDC)
For players who wish to gamble with crypto, then, only one pressing question remains: Which crypto?
Given your options at non-BetOnline sites, we generally recommend Bitcoin prepaid gambling or Litecoin prepaid gambling. Ethereum is too slow and expensive, Ripple is difficult to buy since it’s not available on any US crypto exchanges, and Bitcoin Cash – while generally OK – is generally just OK.
As for Dogecoin, the meme has no real investment potential outside of a timely Elon Musk tweet, and Tether is a stablecoin and thus somewhat uncompelling for the true gambler.
However, if you’re playing at one of the aforementioned sites under the BetOnline umbrella, you have more options. Sure, Bitcoin’s always a good choice, but BTC fees aren’t trivial and BTC transfers aren’t nearly as fast as many of the newer prepaid gambling crypto options.
Personally, we’ve narrowed down our favorite cryptocurrency gambling options to the following, and all for the exact same reasons:
- Cardano
- Solana
- Avalanche
Each of the above coins does three things we absolutely love as both gamblers and crypto investors.
First and foremost, these crypto networks are third-generation Proof-of-Stake (PoS) platforms. At the basic user/investor level, this means you can delegate your crypto holdings to stake pools and earn rewards (aka passive income) without actually giving up custody of your coins.
For bettors, this allows you to maximize your winnings – through delegation – far more than you’d ever be able to with any other crypto coin. In other words, it’s winning on top of winning.
The next reason we like these specific coins for prepaid gambling is that they’re lean. That is, they’re fast.
Bitcoin and Ethereum – and many other first-generation and second-generation cryptocurrencies – are Proof-of-Work (PoW) coins, which means that they’re energy-intensive and take a long time to transact.
While you can still get your betting account funded within the hour with Bitcoin and offshoots like Dogecoin, these third-gen PoS cryptos transfer almost instantly.
They don’t process quite as quickly as credit cards or debit cards, but with transfer times of just 2-3 minutes on average, they’re plenty fast enough. (This is also true for payouts, making these coins the fastest gambling withdrawal options, too.)
The final reason we prefer these coins over all others currently supported at the best prepaid gambling sites is that they’re extremely inexpensive compared to most other options.
While crypto betting transactions come with no added fees charged by your online casino, online sportsbook, or online poker site, they each have native blockchain fees that are automatically charged for every transfer.
These native fees depend on the network parameters for the coin in question as well as the current traffic of the crypto network generally. Bitcoin fees, for example, can eat up 5-10% of your winnings on a bad day, while Ethereum fees can eat up 15-20% of your winnings on a good day.
Many other coins come with fees of a few pennies on the dollar, which – though better – can still amount to something less than ideal for your bottom line.
However, the three PoS coins listed above all have extremely trivial fees that amount to mere pennies on the hundreds of dollars.
TL;DR: ADA, SOL, and AVAX allow you to earn free coins through staking, they’re the fastest options available, and they’re the cheapest options available.
Horse bettors call that a trifecta.