Once you are ready to play for real, you will need to deposit some money. Most casinos offer a bewildering variety of ways to deposit money and withdraw winnings.

You can just use your credit card. Unfortunately some card issuers are starting to charge a cash advance fee for online gaming, or refusing to fund it at all. The other problem is that you sometimes can't withdraw your winnings back onto your card. In the worst case, the casino cannot make any refunds for winnings. Some casinos will make a refund to pay winnings up to the value of your original deposit. If, however, you have a big win and want to take out more money than you deposited, you have to choose a different withdrawal method.

Because of the problems with credit cards, a number of intermediaries have started, who process deposits and cash-outs for online casinos. The largest of these is NETeller. NETeller accounts can be funded using bank transfers or credit cards. The balance can then be passed to a casino. If you win, the money can be returned to NETeller. You can then withdraw this money by cheque. In most major economies the cheque can be in your local currency.

Casinos vary in how quickly they process withdrawal requests. It is very common for casinos to insist on holding onto money for a minimum period, rather than allowing you to deposit and immediately withdraw. This period should not be longer than a few days. It is a fraud-prevention measure, to make it more difficult to deposit money from stolen credit cards, and then withdraw it before the theft can be reported.