The Best Revolut eSports Betting Sites

The appeal of eSports betting reached its peak in 2020, and so far, it remains one of the most popular markets for online betting.

Today, more betting sites than ever include e-sportsbooks on their platforms with countless matches to bet on.

As the popularity of these alternative sports increases, online punters are looking for sites that have, aside from a wide selection of matches, an adequate choice of payment methods.

Revolut is one of the most innovative online banking companies providing a range of different financial services.

This review will examine the basics about Revolut, what services it provides, and where and if the company is still good for betting on eSports online.

But let’s start with the obvious!

What is eSports Betting?

eSports are contests in the form of multiplayer tournaments and leagues organized for professional video game players. eSports has existed in a somewhat rudimentary form since the early 2000s but did not develop into a full-fledged sport until the late 2000s.

Events currently mostly take place online. However, before the pandemic struck, major tournaments were also played in arenas before a live audience.

Top eSports games like Counter-Strike, Overwatch, League of Legends, Street Fighter, and Dota 2 collectively have hundreds of millions of fans worldwide. A great portion of those admirers has made a routine out of betting on their favorite teams and players each year.

The increasing demand for, and popularity of eSports events have led to the rise of new, entirely eSports-oriented bookmakers. Many existing sportsbooks and online casinos have also expanded to include eSports betting services over the past decade.

Betting on eSports events should be a familiar concept. There are various bet types for each match/tournament, each bet carrying separate odds (usually displayed as a decimal or fractional numbers) that indicate how likely an outcome is.

The outcomes can vary. You can bet on which team/player wins a match; which team wins a round or a map; handicap betting; first blood (for Dota 2); first kill (for Call of Duty, Counter-Strike); team/player with most kills, and numerous other bets.

Common Payments on eSports Betting Sites

As punters started crowding online eSports gambling sites, there was a need to make betting accessible to more eSports bettors.

When eSports betting was still a relatively new concept, players had to make due with a limited choice of payment options. Now, however, every licensed company that operates an online casino or sportsbook is compatible with multiple payment methods.

The most widely accepted methods for depositing money online are as follow:

Credit and Debit Cards

Credit and debit cards are by far the most commonly used payment methods for eSports betting.

Almost every adult owns either a credit or debit card. There is a small difference between the two. When the holder of a debit card makes a purchase, money is directly transferred from their bank account, unlike a credit card, where the cardholder pays for services with credit that then has to be repaid.

Be that as it may, credit and debit cards are by far the most widely utilized money-transfer methods found on the casino, sports, or eSports betting sites.

Visa, MasterCard, and Maestro are only a few of the available cards online gambling operators provide.

Bank Transfer

Direct bank transfers are just as common as credit and debit cards on eSports sites.

It is one of the safest means of money-transfer, though it has somewhat a bad reputation for slow processing times.

Users on many eSports betting sites endlessly complain about the somewhat slow deposits, and extra-slow withdrawals, which can take up to 10 days, or sometimes even more.

With bank transfers, users move money directly from their bank accounts and onto their online betting account. However, despite the complaints, banks create a secure and steady doorway between your bank funds and the online account you want to deposit. Some betting sites work with payment processing firms like Citadel to facilitate and smoothen the transfer of your funds.

At the cost of waiting, many are still willing to use this highly secure method in online transactions.

Digital (e-wallets)

Digital, or e-wallets, or web wallets, are web apps developed by a company to facilitate internet transactions.

E-wallets find a wide application on eSports betting sites and are favored by many punters who do not wish to share bank or personal information with the bookie.

A digital wallet allows its user to store bank, credit, or debit card information in one place to expedite online payments. Users of digital wallets are allowed to create multiple different profiles for credit or debit cards. E-wallets are extremely practical as they have all your necessary financial information in one safe place. You can add funds to your e-wallet using your existing bank transfer, credit/debit card, or online prepaid payment services like Neosurf and Paysafecard.

Neteller, Skrill, and PayPal are some of the most popular e-wallets you will find as options on virtually all eSports betting sites in the U.K.

Cryptocurrency

Using cryptocurrency to bet on eSports events is the next level of online betting.

Crypto gambling opens up more opportunities to score big wins, but requires at least some experience in buying, exchanging, storing, and using cryptocurrencies.

Also, the absence of third-party authority that processes and moderates the payments allows for lightning-fast and secure withdrawals and deposits.

First, you need to find a proper crypto exchange service firm. Coinbase and Coinmama are two solid options. Next, you need to download and set up a crypto wallet where, similarly to a digital wallet, you store your crypto funds. Exodus, Electrum, and Mycelium are just some you can use.

This is essentially the hard part, and after you’re done with your e-wallet, you can proceed to make an account with an eSports site that accepts crypto and link your wallet to your new betting account.

What is Revolut?

Revolt is an online financial services firm founded in 2015.

It is a multifarious electronic bank of sorts but with tons of additional banking options.

See Revolut as the ideal combination of the best features of all payment methods we listed above.

Revolut offers both money transfer and currency exchange, among other services such as current accounts, insurance, peer-to-peer payments, and debit cards. Additionally, it also serves as a foreign exchange and stock trading service.

The company processes more than 100 million transactions every month and has more than 10 million customers worldwide.

Revolut arrived in 2015, one of the best years of the decade for e-sports, and it wasn’t long before many eSports betting sites included it as a payment option. But many things have changed since then, and we will explain later how time has impacted Revolut sports bookmakers.

Revolut Fees

Revolut markets itself as a fee-free financial company, though not all services are always 100% exempt from certain charges.

Revolut does not charge users fees upon registering a new account, and also forgoes charges for account maintenance.

According to some reviews, withdrawing funds from an ATM is free up to €200/£200 per month but afterward it costs 2% for every withdrawal.

When it comes to fees for transferring money to international banks – that is banks outside the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) zone – there were no fees attached until 2021

Now, the so-called ‘cross-border’ transfers (outside SEPA countries) carry a fee of 0.3% of the sum transferred, which can be anywhere from £/€0.30 and to about £/€5.00 when the money is transferred in the recipient’s country’s own currency (for instance, sending Rupees to India from the U.K.).

If the ‘cross-border’ wire transfer is sent in a currency other than that of the recipient’s country, there is a £/€3.00 fee for transferring US dollars, Euros, British pounds sterling, or Swiss francs; or £/€5.00 for other currencies.

Opening a Revolut Account

Users can open a Revolut account in a few simple steps.

You can download the app and register on your phone or create an account directly from the website.

First, you choose a country and enter your phone number. Next, you will enter basic information such as name, birth date, address, and email, and you should receive a code to verify your account.

Finally, you choose the type of account (standard, premium, or metal, where the latter two incur fees); Enter your bank details, and make an initial deposit.

You may also be required to provide a picture of yourself and/or a photo ID to further verify your identity.

After your account is set up, you can proceed to request a Revolut card which can be used to withdraw fee-free funds from an ATM in your country. Depending on where you live, Revolut might charge a small fee to process and ship the physical card.

Is eSports Betting with Revolut Safe?

When it comes to securing the sheer volume of transactions on a daily and monthly basis, Revolut takes no chances.

There’s a reason why Revolut eSports bookmakers included this service in their payment options.

With millions of monthly transactions, Revolut’s team has come up with an airtight security protocol to ensure every piece of user data it collects is safely stored and all transactions impervious to outside threats.

Their system uses advanced algorithms to detect money laundering schemes or other illicit behavior. Wwhat makes it different from other banks is that it also automatically suspends (in most cases temporarily) accounts if it flags suspicious activity. This hasn’t set well with many users who have complained this method has led to erroneous suspensions of accounts.

The company encrypts all transactions with 256-bits encryption and advanced SSL protocols to keep your account, bank, and password details tightly secured.

Revolut has hired high-profile banking experts to manage its financial transactions and make sure security is on the highest level. Some of these people include former Goldman Sachs executive Wolfgang Bardorf, and Philip Doyle, the former chief of liquidity at Deutsche Bank. Doyle has also served as head of financial crime and fraud prevention manager at ClearBank and Visa Inc.

In other words, your funds and account details are in safe hands. Just try not to get your account suspended.

eSports Betting With Revolut in 2021

Revolut eSports betting sites can still be found, although there are some restrictions you need to be aware of.

While it still serves thousands of eSports punters in dozens of countries across three continents, Revolut is not available to eSports punters in the U.K.

In April 2020, the U.K. Gambling Commission announced a ban on gambling using credit cards. The ban was announced after an analysis found that 22% of those who used credit cards to bet online were deemed ‘problem gamblers’ who were heavily in debt from using credit cards to gamble.

In response to this ban, Revolut announced days later it would pull its services from all U.K. betting sites.

The company declared that all UK residents ‘won’t be able to use their Revolut cards for any online or offline gambling payments in the UK’. Initially, a blow to all U.K. gambling companies relying on this service, online betting sites have been less affected.

Perhaps one of Revolut’s bigger advantages for online betting markets was that it allowed the exchange and use of cryptocurrency for betting, where many other sites were limited to fiat currencies.

Today, almost all online casinos and sports bookmakers offer at least half a dozen alternatives to Revolut, all, in some form or another, resembling the popular electronic bank but lacking its diversity of services.

So in lieu of Revolut, you can use Skrill, PayPal, or Neteller for fiat, as well as crypto currency betting; bank wires for highly secure (though slow) transactions; the ubiquitous credit/debit cards, or online vouchers such as Paysafecard.

Below we make a list of the best eSports betting sites that also happen to have highly convenient and diverse payment options.

• Betway – Welcome bonus: up to€30 in free bets; payments: Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, Skrill, bank transfer, etc.
• MansionBet – £20 Welcome Bonus; payment options: credit and debit cards, PayPal, Paysafe, MuchBetter, Skril, Neteller
• William Hill – Bonus: £30 in Free Bets; payment options: PayPal, Skrill, Visa, MasterCard, Paysafecard, Bank Transfer, etc.
• 888sport – Bonus: bet £10, Get £30 in Free Bets + £10 Casino Bonus; payment methods include Trustly, Neteller, Skrill, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and more.

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