The woes of online withdrawals

The advantages of net gambling over traditional forms is a theme that’s been written about ad nauseum at various gambling websites.  We’ve probably got  a page somewhere on this site prattling on about it, and I bet one of the big advantages touched on is convenience.

Play your chosen game, or wager your chosen event from your home, office, holiday suite, boat… no travel, no mixing with the great unwashed on the casino or betting shop floor… blah blah blah.

And this is all true of course.  Most gambling websites will have you signed up, account-funded and ready to bet with real money in moments – a myriad of betting lines and casino games at your fingertips.

You play, you enjoy, you may lose, you may win.  You then decide to call it quits and take your cash.

Now if you were at the casino you’d take your rack of chips to the cashier, change them and walk out with a fist full of cash – looking for other prudent investment options along the Strip at 1am.  Online, you make a withdrawal request and you’re politely told your request is being processed.

Now this might mean the funds are transferred to your NeTeller account, or whatever virtual wallet service you selected, in which case you never really see the money until you withdraw it from the virtual wallet.  It may mean the funds are sent as a bank transfer…waiting…waiting…waiting.  It may mean the funds are sent as a bank cheque – again, waiting…waiting…waiting.

It may also be the case that you encounter a damned annoying withdrawal policy that means you have to go to a whole lot more effort to withdraw your money than was required to deposit it.  Below is an example.

My Sportingbet withdrawal saga

I opened a betting account at Sportingbet.com.au prior to a big race day here in Australia (Melbourne Cup) – primarily to avoid having to go to the local betting shop and queue up for and hour to place a bet.  Opening the account was very easy.  Funding the account easier.  Within 5 minutes I was ready to bet with $100 in my account.

The day went well and a couple of subsequent bets had my account up to $620.  Time to cash out I thought so went to the My Account > Withdrawal page expecting a nice big button saying Withdraw Now.  No such luck.  Instead, I am greeted by the below message…

“All accounts with Bookmakers are now subject to customer identification processes as stipulated by the Federal Government of Australia. We at Sportingbet want to make this process as easy and hassle free as possible for you. To this end we have some very easy options available to establish your identity and enjoy our service.”

Turns out I have to verify my identity before I can get my cash.   And as for being easy and hassle free – I need to print out a form, fill it out, take it to a Post Office along with a number of forms of identification then snail-mail it to Sportingbet and wait for them to decide I am me and can withdraw my money.

Curiously, no such verification is required to hand the cash over, or indeed lose it all betting!

The point is

Technology has progressed to the point where forms of online betting are very impressive indeed.  Functionality, security, delivery etc.  Heck, you can play blackjack with a real dealer dealing real cards from the other side of the world!

But one area where traditional gambling has it all over the online stuff, and probably always will – COLD HARD CASH!

LD