Online Casinos Accepting Zelle

Top 3 Casinos that offer Zelle

Introduction

There has been a virtual explosion of new fintech in recent years, especially in mobile payments, cryptocurrencies, and eWallets. Few industry sectors have been more at the forefront of the revolution than online gambling. Players continue to look for safe, secure, and convenient ways to get their hard-earned money into an online casino account, and then to withdraw their well-deserved winnings with as little friction as possible.

Casino software has advanced rapidly as well. When online gambling began, players had to download an entire software package with banking facilities, bonus plug-ins, and every game offered by the developer just to play a simple game of blackjack or one of their favorite slots. Some of the leaders in those days, like Microgaming, required a complete reinstallation of the entire download software suite whenever they changed a minor part of the package.

Now, all games can be played right in a browser - one at a time - and the cashier section is operated on the server-end with 100% security, including state-of-the-art encryption that can exceed that of some traditional financial institutions.

Many players today practically live on their mobile devices. According to ZDNet, Americans spend over 5 hours each day on them and check messages more than 60 times on average. The worldwide average is more than 3 hours per day. 

It just makes sense…

...if you are using mobile for any significant amount of time each day, and you like to gamble online, using a mobile app for banking offers convenience. Add two or more layers of authentication and security, and a smartphone can become an indispensable part of your day-to-day arsenal.

That brings us to an innovative mobile app known as Zelle®. 

Zelle is a way to send and receive money quickly, securely, and without cost. There's a real good chance that your bank or credit union already has a link to Zelle on their online banking pages. That's one place to get it. You can also find it at the App Store and on Google Play.

A quick consumer video primer for Zelle Pay is available on Youtube.

Once you have Zelle installed you'll be ready to send money to anyone else with a US bank account straight from yours - if they have the app installed. If they don't have the app, you can still send the money and they'll get an email explaining what they need to do to quickly retrieve it.

Please note that only US bank accounts have access to the Zelle Pay network. We’ll show you how to get around that with bitcoins to deposit at an offshore casino later in this article.

You can check the Getting Started pages on the Zelle website to see if your bank or credit union is on the list. If your bank is not on the list just open the app and connect your bank account through a debit card anyway, it’s really that easy!

Okay, so now you can send money to almost anyone with a US bank account, straight from your bank, for just about any purpose you can think of.

You might be asking…

What else can you do?

You can use Zelle to buy cryptocurrency with your regular bank account. Then you can deposit those coins in an online casino, play to win, and cash out. 

About Zelle

Zelle is the creation of a financial security firm known as Early Warning Services, LLC. The fintech company is owned by seven of America’s largest banks. The firm has been providing financial institutions with network intelligence for nearly 30 years.

They began offering mobile services in 2013 and entered the P2P (peer-to-peer money transfer) market in 2015. In 2017 they rolled out Zelle Pay as the first instant real-time payment services network. New features were added in 2019, 2020, and beyond to make the app handle more than paying bills, splitting dinner tickets, or sending money to family and friends - they added cryptocurrency purchase power directly from your regular bank account.

While you may not be familiar with the Zelle name, the work they do behind the scenes is more than a little significant. As of early 2021, the company had reached the following milestones:

• Processed more than 1,200,000,000 (1.2b) payments
• Partnered with 45 of the top 50 financial institutions
• Built a network servicing over 2,500 financial, government, and payment companies

When considering the security of online transactions…

...it just makes sense to trust a long-standing security-driven company with your internet transactions. Beginning in the 1990s, Zelle’s parent company began developing a host of financial security protocols and products beginning with risk management for banks through deposit security and payment validation. Many of the instant financial services we enjoy today are based on some of Early Warning’s pioneering products and services.

New account fraud detection, identity risk solutions, asset verification, transaction alerts for ID theft, and multi-factor authentication through a single integrated platform are all hallmarks of this wholly bank-owned company. Your transactions simply couldn’t be more secure.

A Quick Note: It’s important to treat Zelle just like cash - the funds are going to go straight from your bank account through a highly secured gateway, and directly into the other person or businesses bank account. Make sure the email address or mobile phone number you are sending to is correct, because you want the right person to get the money.

Registering a Zelle Account in a Few Simple Steps

Setting up Zelle and connecting your bank account to the network of over 2,500 financial institutions really couldn’t be easier. In just a few minutes you’ll be able to send and receive money directly using the bank-owned services of Zelle, for free.

Visit your online banking page on your mobile phone or go to zellepay.com to find your bank on the list. You can click straight through to hundreds of financial institutions from that page. Alternately, go to Google Play (click here) or to the App Store (live link here) to download and install the app. 

Now you can…

Type in the first few letters of your bank’s name to select it and connect your account after logging in.

Bank not there?

Tap “Don’t see your bank?”, key in your email address, and enter the verification code they send. Now you are ready to connect through your debit card. Enter the card data, create a password, and you are all set.

Let’s run through that again point by point…

1. Connect from your online bank or get the app and connect a card

1. Send and receive money instantly

Using Zelle for Online Casino Payments

There may be a few hybrid sportsbook casinos that will take a direct Zelle deposit or pay out to your account, but it’s only available for US bank accounts so the odds are pretty low. 

Zelle Pay is a great way to purchase Bitcoin for casino deposits so you can find the biggest bonuses and enjoy instant or newear-instant cashouts, just like players in other countries do.

We have found three peer to peer (P2P) cryptocurrency exchanges that accept Zelle for buying and selling Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency:

• Binance
• Paxful  
• LocalBitCoins

Binance is a Malta-based exchange founded in 2017 and is widely seen as one of the best for experienced traders. We don’t necessarily recommend it for beginner or novice coin enthusiasts but that's not to say it isn’t a valuable tool to be aware of. The following link will take you to the Binance Knowledge Base. 

Binance trades are secure because the system uses an escrow service where all funds are kept safe until the transaction has settled. If one party drops the ball, the other can simply appeal the transfer and a proper settlement will be made within hours or within days if the exchange was complicated.

Paxful is a BTC exchange that provides you with a free wallet and crypto-address. However, Paxful is not recommended for beginners because some P2P transactions can be rife with peril and potential loss. Whatever you do, please don’t study Tic-Toc videos or other off-site guides to trading on Paxful as they could mislead you into giving your money away to a scammer.

If you already have experience with Paxful you can purchase crypto using the following steps:

1. Open an account at Paxful

1. Verify account

1. Navigate to “Buy Bitcoin” 

1. Choose Zelle Pay

1. Open a trade and complete your end of the deal

1. Confirm the coins are in your Paxful wallet

That leaves us with the best option…

Local bitcoins

While it's not Coinbase, Coinbase doesn't currently accept Zelle. However, Locabitcoins (LBTC) gives you access to the world marketplace of cryptocurrency with buyers and sellers in over 100 countries.

An escrow system keeps both buyers and sellers safe, and there is a reputation system that finds and filters out bad dealers and promotes trustworthy customers.

Deposit using Zelle to Bitcoin at Online Casinos

Once you have the Zelle app installed and a bank account connected, open it and navigate to the cashier section of your chosen casino. Click on “Deposit” and choose Zelle.

If you haven’t opened a Localbitcoins account yet, visit the site, and click on “Register Here”. That will get you over to the trading site and it only takes a couple of minutes to set up a new account.

While that page is open, return to the casino page and click the “Buy” button listed with anonymous coin sellers from LCBC. The list will always be fresh and only populated with the best sellers. 

Enter the dollar amount and a BTC value will appear in the other box. Add a simple note such as “I’d like to buy some bitcoin”, and then send the trade request.

The seller will provide instructions on how to activate the transaction, follow them simply and you will be on your way.

Watch your email box, checking spam if needed, for a message from the seller. It could take half an hour to complete but may happen sooner. When you get an email address from the seller, enter it into the Zelle app and “send”. Email the seller and tell them you have paid and click the corresponding button on the LTBC website.

Next, copy the Bitcoin address the casino provides and paste it into your LBTC wallet to send. Back on the casino page click the button to confirm you have sent the funds. Within 30-60 minutes you should receive an email from the casino confirming your deposit.

Withdraw Winnings with Zelle

You can’t. You’ll need another avenue, such as ACH, direct bank wire, check, or other means that bypasses the Zelle network as the casino bank is almost certainly not a US banking institution. Your best bet, of course, is to simply request a Bitcoin payout to your crypto wallet and convert the funds to fiat currency (USD) from there.

As we mentioned earlier, there may be a few hybrid casino/sportsbooks that are willing to be very creative and innovative in finding ways to pay their winners. Some will wire you the money through Western Union or another non-banked remitter, some might send you a stack of gift cards - we’re of the opinion that places like this should be avoided for the most part. 

Chances are, that if they are willing to circumvent international money laundering laws to pay you that creatively, they don’t have an actual casino license. That said, there is nothing untoward about you purchasing BTC and spending it however you choose. The difference is that you are a free agent and your game provider is a participant in a regulated industry. The line between making a product or service available and crossing that line to move money in both directions is important to note as well.

Receiving Money on Zelle

There are many other ways to use the Zelle app in day to day life. If someone wants to send you money as a gift, to pitch in on dinner, or so you can use a discount to buy concert tickets or anything else, all they need is your mobile phone number or email address. The money should appear instantly after they... 

• Open the Zelle app
• Choose you as a recipient
• Enter the amount they want to send

Advantages of Zelle as an Online Casino Payment Method

• Mobile method and additional services. Zelle lives and works on your smartphone just like you probably do. You can send money to anybody with a US bank account or US debit card even if they don’t currently have a Zelle account. Conversely, anyone with a debit card or bank account can send you money in seconds or minutes.

• New access to cryptocurrency - Buying bitcoins on Localbitcoins is very safe - just stay within the system so you have escrow protection - never make a "side deal" with a seller off the network in order to save a couple of dollars in fees. 
• If you have a new wallet aty a new exchange and you've exceeded your daily trading limit, you don't like the fees, or you simply want to try something new - Localbitcoins frees you from the limits set at the other exchanges.
• Bigger bonuses - It's possible to get much bigger match bonuses when you deposit with Bitcoins - the percentage match, deposit limit, or both can be increased when you use a preferred payment method - especially on your first BTC deposit.
• Security – You know the receiver, the money is transferred through one of the most secure financial networks in the world - bank to bank. You control the passwords to your phone and your email so it's virtually impossible for someone to hack both at the same time and defeat the two-part authentication. You also control the username and password to your bank account. A hacker would need that information as well in order to compromise your funds. Zelle is as safe and secure as you keep yourself on the internet.

Disadvantages of Zelle as an Online Casino Payment Method

• No withdrawals over the Zelle network - however - you should still be able to get paid with BTC and cash it out as you normally would. Alternatively, ACH or wire payments, a currier check, or other convenient payment method listed in the casino cashier is probably available.
• Fees - some of the steps such as buying or selling BTC can have fees.

• Country restrictions - Zelle is only available in the United States banking network. You will need to convert your money into bitcoins to deposit and the casino’s bank will not be able to pay directly into your regular bank account.
• Conversion times - it can half an hour or so to purchase coins through the marketplace and another half an hour or more for the deposit to become available for casino play.
• Limited choice of casinos with preferred sellers. You can use the methods described above to convert your dollars into bitcoins at LCBC and deposit them in a dedicated cashier. To deposit at almost any other BTC casino of your choice you will need to spend a little more time choosing a seller, securing the coins, and waiting for 3-5 confirmations on the blockchain if you do it on your own. In most cases like that, we would simply recommend using Coinbase, it’s much easier in the long run for beginners and novice BTC players. 

Casinos that Offer Zelle