Should You Expect Instant Withdrawals When Using Crypto?
Although withdrawal time has shortened noticeably since the introduction of cryptocurrencies in casinos, they can’t really be considered instant - as many claim. This is due to the fact a withdrawal has to go through 2 necessary steps to reach the recipient. The first is processing time, controlled by the casino, and the second is the actual withdrawal time, which is executed by the payment system. The latter can be very similar among different altcoins used by the casino, but there are differences nevertheless.
Phase 1: Processing time
When withdrawing your funds from the casino, they must first process the withdrawal for several reasons: to confirm the withdrawal is within limits, intercept potential fraudulent acts or other breaches of the casino’s terms, as well as to check your account hasn’t been hacked (this guarantees the money will be received by its real owner). Additional documentation might also be gathered during processing time - for instance, the casino might want documentation of your source of funds. This phase of the withdrawal is controlled by the casino and typically doesn’t last as long as withdrawal time, but the length still varies from one casino to another (from a couple of minutes to a week - though those are extreme cases).
Phase 2: Withdrawal time
When it’s established you’re eligible to withdraw and your withdrawal gets processed by the casino, it’s handed over to the payment system. The casino sends the requested amount from their account to yours in the same available payment system. As payment methods are built differently, the time it takes for the money to reach the recipient varies greatly as well. A common term regarding crypto withdrawal time is block time, which expresses the time required for miners to confirm transactions within one block and create a new block. And while some cryptocurrencies can have nearly ‘instant’ withdrawals, not all are like that.
Withdrawal times of different payment methods:
| FIAT | |
| bank transfer | 1-5 days |
| bank cards | 1-5 days |
| prepaid cards | 1-5 days |
| OTHER PAYMENT METHODS | |
| e-wallets | 0-15 minutes |
| CRYPTO BLOCK TIME | |
| Bitcoin | 10 minutes per block |
| Ethereum | 16 seconds per block |
| Tether | 5-7.5minutes |
| EOS | 0.5seconds per block |
| Litecoin | 1.5 minutes per block |
| Bitcoin Cash | 10 minutes per block |
| Ripple | 2-5 seconds |
| Dash | 2.5 minutes |
| Monero | 2 minutes per block |
Not entirely instant, but still much faster than fiat
From the list above, it’s clear that cryptocurrencies offer much faster withdrawals than fiat payment systems, some being extremely fast (like EOS) and others taking around 10 minutes (per block). So even though the whole withdrawal time, including processing time, won’t be quite instant, it’s still the option you should choose if you prefer speedy withdrawals. Beside that, crypto offers other benefits like privacy and smaller transaction fees. However, if the blockchain is congested, transactions with a higher fee will usually supersede the ones with lower fees.
Crypto is often marketed as an instant withdrawal option at online casinos. But even though it’s technically not, it still unveils another benefit of using cryptocurrencies when gambling online - fast withdrawals!
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