Some people may wrongly believe that because they don’t have a bank account they can’t bet online. Whilst possession of a UK bank account and ideally a debit card is the easiest option when it comes to funding an online betting account, if you just don’t have one, there are still some options open to you and yes, the short answer is you can indeed bet online without a bank account.
There are quite a few points to note though, perhaps the most important of which is that you will still need to provide ID unless the bookie can identify you by the electoral register or other means. If you do need to provide ID, this is usually a photo or scan of photographic ID document such as a passport, a driving licence or a national ID card, proof of your address (a recent utility bill or financial statement) and, depending on how you deposit, possibly ID relating to that.
High Street Bookmakers
Photo © Stephen McKay (cc-by-sa/2.0)
The links between online and the high street have never been stronger. Most of the popular high street brands will allow you to have one account for both online and offline. You’re able to track bets, place bets, deposit and withdraw, all under one account.
This gives punters a great option to get money into a betting account without linking a bank account. There are several reasons why people will want to do this, but the most common is that it means you can remove any online links to your bank account.
The majority of the major high street brands have created some sort of platform that links the two. Below we’ve included some of the most popular ones to look out for and how they are going to help you bet online without a bank account.
Coral – Coral Connect
Coral was one of the first to market with betting cards and theirs comes in the form of Coral Connect. Your Connect card is linked to both your online and high street betting account. You can use the card to both get money in and out of your betting account from any of Coral’s 2,000+ betting shops in the UK.
What’s a cool feature is that you can place a bet online and then take your card to a betting shop and get your winnings from the bet almost instantly. This saves the time between waiting for withdrawals to be processed back to your bank and allows you to get your winnings in cash, instantly.
Paddy Power – Cash Card
Paddy Power have created the Cash Card which allows you to load up your card with cash and then have that linked to you betting account. You can use this from any Paddy Power betting shop and all you need to do is enter the shop and hand over the cash for it to be loaded on your card and betting account.
There’s another card that Paddy Power use alongside this one called the Cash Card PPlus. This is a MasterCard that can be used like any other Mastercard to buy things at any point of sale that accepts these card types.
It works by linking the card to your betting balance and any purchases are taken off this balance. It’s a lot like having your own bank account that is also your betting account.
Finally, points can be earned using each of these cards as part of their rewards scheme.
Ladbrokes – The Grid
The Grid from Ladbrokes works in much the same way as many of the other cards, but its’ got a couple of bells and whistles that sets it apart. The basics are that you link your account for online and offline betting. You can load funds onto your card from any Ladbrokes betting shop and you can also get money out as well.
Where The Grid differs is that bets you’ve placed in store you can scan and then check them online. You can also cash out these bets via their betting apps or online platform, which is a feature that is unique to Ladbrokes. Like the others, you can claim points for using The Grid card.
William Hill – Plus Card
The Plus Card from William Hill works in much the same way as the others. You can link both an online and in-store account to one card, giving you the ability to track bets and deposit/withdraw money.
All you need to do to make this work is to open an account either online or at a William Hill betting shop, then activate your card. A nice feature of the William Hill Plus Card is that you can also cash out bets that you’ve made in store on to your account.
Pre-Paid Cards
Pre-paid cards are another good option to use to get money into an online betting account without using a bank account. They are straightforward in how they work in that you simply load up the card with funds and then you can use them to deposit into your betting account.
A pre-paid card works in much the same way that a debit card would when it comes to banking. However, there are more ways that you can pay money into them, and they aren’t necessarily needed to be linked to main bank accounts.
The easiest way to get money in is to load them at shops or stores that accept them as payment processing cards. Once you do this, you then have a loaded card that will have a 16-digit card number assigned. You simply enter this number along with the amount to deposit on the betting site and go from there.
There is a large catch with pre-paid cards and that is that a lot of sites have recently banned them. The issue with them is that they fall under the ban of credit cards that was introduced by the UK Gambling Commission back in April 2021. As a result, the number of betting sites that use them, especially those that accept UK-based players, is small and declining.
The UKGC deemed the issue being that of anonymity and not knowing who the card was registered to or where the money was coming from. One of their goals of late with their KYC (Know Your Customer) campaign is to make sure they know who is signing up and not let those that may be vulnerable or otherwise banned to get money into accounts.
Voucher Based Systems
There are a couple of other options when it comes to depositing that involve cash vouchers that you can purchase at a local shop.
Western Union
By Richard Allaway, flickr
Some online bookmakers allow funding via a Western Union branch using cash. Western Union is a global money transfer service where money can be deposited with an agent at thousands of outlets across the UK in places such as convenience stores and other outlets.
Paysafecard
Paysafecard is a prepaid card that can be bought from retail outlets using cash and then used to fund online accounts at many top betting sites.
Ukash
Ukash was a voucher that allowed you to pay in cash at Paypoint locations and other outlets in order to obtain a code that will allow you to add funds to your online betting account. Please note that UKash has now joined with Paysafecard.
Voucher Withdraws
You’ve managed to get your money into your betting account by using one of voucher systems that we’ve already mentioned, but how do you get your money out?
Well, one thing that you won’t get is a payment processed back in the form of a voucher. It’s very rare for bookmakers to allow players to withdraw to payment methods that can’t be verified. We’ve mentioned about KYC above, and this is one of the things that falls exactly into that category.
Most betting sites will ask you to register a debit card or process your payment back to your bank accounts. Obviously, this defies the process of betting without a bank account, but for the most part, getting your money out via any other method is going to be tough.
If you’ve access to one of the shops that link online and high street betting to one account, then this might well be a viable option. However, be prepared to prove you are who you say you are in terms of ID when registering for these types of accounts as you will be refused without it.
You may be able to withdraw back to e-wallets that have been registered to your betting account. This is one of few options where you can keep banking information totally offline and not have to use a bank account to get any money out.
Finding What Payment Methods are Accepted
For further details it is always a good idea to refer to the betting site at which you want to deposit funds, calling or emailing their customer service team if clarification of the options is required. Many sites will list what payment methods are accepted within their help or FAQ sections along with minimum and maximum deposit levels.