One of the best things about winning in online casinos is the time you finally get to withdraw your money and spend it on something nice.
However, it's not always that easy and sometimes you'll encounter casino delaying withdrawals. We'll be covering why it happens and what you can do if it happens to you.
Reasons for Casino Withdrawal Delays
There are several reasons why a casino withdrawal delay would occur, most of which pertain to account issues:
Detection of Underage Players
It is (or 21 in some parts of the world) and the casino has an obligation to prevent people under the legal gambling age from playing on their site. If they have reason to believe you've lied about your age when opening your account, they're obligated to investigate your account.
If you've done nothing wrong then once the investigation has been concluded, you will receive your money. However, if you have lied about your age when creating your account you will likely have your funds confiscated and your account shut down.
Using More Than One Account
Having more than one account at an online casino, or 'multi-accounting', is generally frowned upon by the sites and could cause delays in your withdrawals being processed. The reason casinos don't like one person having multiple accounts is that they don't want their welcome offers (only available to new players) to be abused by people who already have an account.
When withdrawing, if they find that you have multiple accounts they will likely ask you why this is the case and will make you shut down all but one of your accounts before you're able to withdraw money from your main account.
Failure to Verify Identification
KYC or 'Know Your Customer' is becoming mandatory for more and more online casinos, and the rules they have to follow to stay within the regulations are very strict. In most jurisdictions, a player must complete identity verification before they're even allowed to play on the site, but some only require this when trying to withdraw money.
If you have not completed your identity verification, your withdrawal is likely to be delayed until you have sent in your documents and had them verified by the casino. This is a one-time thing you need to do so once your account has been verified you won't need to do so again.
Transacting with a Different Credit Card or Payment Account
When withdrawing from an online casino, they prefer you to withdraw using the same method with which you deposited money onto the account. Some sites will require you to only withdraw using that payment method until the withdrawal amount exceeds the deposit amount.
However, there are exceptions where casinos do not have the same withdrawal methods as their deposit options. If you use credit cards in casinos that accept them, certain operators require you to use online banking or cage withdrawal to take out your winnings.
If you choose to withdraw using a different method, this may cause a delay in your withdrawal as the casino will run a check on the transaction as part of their obligations to prevent money laundering. Once the check has been completed the money will make its way to your account.
Mistakes with Account or Payment Details
If you provide the casino with incorrect banking/payment details, there will inevitably be a delay in your withdrawal. It's important that whenever you make a withdrawal you double-check that the details are correct before you confirm it and read the confirmation email carefully to make sure you haven't made a mistake.
If you have made a mistake, contact the casino immediately to see if they can cancel the transaction before it goes through. Often there is a delay from when you request the withdrawal to when the withdrawal gets processed to ensure that the casino is sending the right amount of money so if you catch it early enough you should be able to stop it from going through at all.
Flagged for Abusing Account
If you have been using your account in a way that the casinos don't like (arbitrage betting, bonus abusing, abusing loopholes, etc.) your account will be investigated before any withdrawals are processed. They will be checking to see if you have cheated the casino in any way and if so they will confiscate your funds and close your account.
Whilst arbitrage betting isn't something the casino likes players to do, it isn't illegal and the casinos cannot withhold your money for doing it. However, if they believe you to be doing this they may put betting/winning limits on your account.
Connecting with a VPN
Online casinos do not allow people to play on their site if they're connected with a VPN. This is because they're only regulated to offer real money games to people in certain locations, and VPNs mask the true location of the user. Someone using a VPN could theoretically access the casino from a country that doesn't allow the site to operate, thus circumventing the rules.
To prevent this, most casinos have a blanket ban on using VPNs to connect to their site and if they have reason to believe that you have been using a VPN whilst playing, they will likely investigate your account and delay any withdrawals that are in progress.
Withdrawal Period for Casino Payment Methods
Not all withdrawal methods are created equal, and some will take a lot longer than others. Here are the most common withdrawal methods you'll see offered on casino sites, and how long they take for withdrawals to be processed.
| Payment Method | Processing Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Bank Transfer | 24 to 48 hours | Bank transfers will usually take a day or two as they're not done individually but all bank transfer requests are fulfilled at once, once a day. |
| Credit/Debit Cards | Instant to 8 hours | Most credit/debit card withdrawals are instantaneous but can sometimes take a few hours. |
| Wire Transfer | 1 to 5 days | The specific amount of time will depend on the casino as some take longer to process than others. |
| Up to 24 hours | PayPal is a very fast withdrawal method with most taking less than 3 hours. | |
| Up to 24 hours | Similar to PayPal, Skrill is another fast and popular withdrawal method. | |
| Up to 24 hours | Another online payment processor that offers fast withdrawal times. | |
| Cheque | 5 to 14 days | This is by far the longest method and also the least secure. Would recommend avoiding it at all costs. |
| Cryptocurrency | Within an hour | Cryptocurrency is one of the fastest withdrawal methods you can use due to its infrastructure. However, mistakes cannot be rectified so be extra careful when inputting your withdrawal address. |
It's important to remember that all of these times are estimates and some online casinos are more efficient at processing withdrawals than others.
What to Do For Extensive Casino Withdrawal Delays
Whilst it's usual for most withdrawal methods to take a few hours, here's what you should do if it's taking an extensive amount of time:
Contact Online Casino Through Email
The first thing you should do is try to contact the casino to get them to investigate the issue. This can be done through email or by phone and some sites offer live support where you can speak to an employee directly.
Most of the time the withdrawals department will take a look at your specific withdrawal request and will either expedite it for you or let you know what is causing the delay. If there is a specific reason for the delay such as lack of ID verification, this will need to be resolved before the withdrawal is processed.
Look for Head Office Management
If you get little help from the casino employees when you contact them, the next thing to do is to escalate the issue to management as some staff only handle certain kinds of issues such as sports betting issues. These are people who have more authority and will likely be more willing to help you stay and play on the site.
There may be details on the site itself about how to contact the management team or you can request through email/live chat that your issue be escalated to a senior member of staff. Their experience and know-how should help them resolve whatever issue your withdrawal is facing.
Get Assistance from Professional Third Parties
If the casino refuses to pay you as well as help or acknowledge the problem, you can take your issue to a 3rd party investigator to look into the issue for you. These are companies that specialize in investigating these kinds of issues and will have experience dealing with them.
Before contacting the 3rd party, you need to ensure that you've done everything you can on your end and that the fault is definitely with the casino. You will need to hand over all recorded communication between yourself and the casino so make sure you hold onto those emails.
Seek Help from Regulation Offices
If the site operates within a regulated environment, you can contact the and ask them to launch an investigation. Casinos that don't follow the regulations face harsh penalties and can be at risk of losing their license to operate.
These regulators take casino complaints very seriously and you can be assured that if you go to them with a legitimate issue, it will be investigated and a resolution will be found. Similarly to contacting a 3rd party investigator, you must make sure that you have exhausted every avenue to make sure that the casino is at fault, before contacting the regulator.
Post a Complaint on Casino Review Sites
It's a sad fact that some online casinos don't care about players having issues until it starts to affect their reputation. Posting a negative review online about an online casino if you've had an issue withdrawing not only alerts other people to the possibility that they'll encounter the same issue but may stir the casino into acting on your problem.
However, this isn't guaranteed to work as the site may not care about a few negative reviews - or even see your review at all! The best way to resolve an issue with the casino is by contacting them directly.
Casino Delaying Withdrawals: FAQ
We've collected and answered the most common questions about casino withdrawal delays:
How can duplicate accounts delay my withdrawals?
Having duplicate accounts is frowned upon by most casinos and if they detect that you have multiple accounts when making a withdrawal they will delay it until all but one of the accounts have been closed.
What happens if I use a bank account with a different owner?
If you try to withdraw to a bank account with a different owner than the name on the casino account, the withdrawal will likely be delayed whilst they investigate the possibility of money laundering. They will contact you to verify the details of the account but it is unlikely they will let the transaction go through.
Which withdrawal method is the fastest?
Credit/debit cards (that have previously been used to deposit), online payment providers such as PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller, and cryptocurrencies are the fastest withdrawal methods you will find on casino sites.
Why should I contact a casino through email when my withdrawal is delayed for a long time?
Contacting the casino via email or live chat gives you a great chance of getting your issue resolved. Most of the time if you speak with their support team they'll be able to resolve the issue for you. However, if they do not resolve it, you then have a record of your interaction that you can take to a 3rd party to assist you.
Can anyone help me if an online casino continues to delay my withdrawal?
There are 3rd parties that are able to assist if casinos are dragging their feet over processing withdrawals. You can also take your issue to the gambling regulators in the location where the casino operates.
If you find you're facing a casino delaying withdrawals, the important thing to remember is not to panic. Following the tips in this article will help you take the actions you need to get your withdrawal quickly.
This article was published on January 24, 2022, and last updated on October 26, 2022.