What is Giropay?
Giropay is a Germany based direct online banking system that was established in 2006 by German savings banks, Postbank and several credit unions. The service works through the online banking accounts at some 1500 German and Austrian banks and serves about 17 million customers. Nowadays more than 1 million payments per month are effectuated by the Giropay service. The latter fact makes Giropay the second most used online payment method in Germany, after Sofort Überweisung that carries out about 2 million transactions per month (but is also active in 10 other European countries).
The procedure to make an online payment by using Giropay is the same as most other direct online banking services.
At a web-shop or other online products selling or services providing enterprise, the customer chooses Giropay as the payment method to use and the bank at with his or her internet banking account is situated. The customer is redirected to the login page of the bank account.
The bank will display all data concerning the transaction and the customer is asked to enter an account number and the associated PIN-code. Subsequently, the bank will send a Transaction Authentication Number (TAN-code) that the customer uses to confirm the transaction. The bank will authorize the transaction and send the payment in real-time to the receiving party, deducting immediately the send amount of the depositor’s account and send a confirmation of the payment to the receiving party. After this, the depositor is re-directed back to the receiver’s website with a confirmation the payment has been made.
All the above means the Giropay payments are secure (by means of the customer’s account number in combination with the PIN-code and the TAN-code that’s needed to make the transaction) and instantly (all is done in real-time).
Another pleasant feature of Giropay is that it’s completely anonymous as neither personal nor financial data of the depositor is disclosed to the receiving party.
Up to € 5000 payments are guaranteed, however, deposits made with Giropay can’t be cancelled.
Paying with Giropay in an Online Casino
In an online casino, a player needs to choose Giropay as the payment method on the casino’s deposit page. After this the same procedure as above described is followed to make the casino account deposit.
The player is re-directed to the chosen bank, fills in the bank’s online transaction form, authorizes the payment with the TAN-code and immediately the bank will send the chosen amount to the casino. The deposited funds are instantly available on the casino account.
Can Players Top Up E-Wallets Or Prepaid Cards With Credit Cards And Play At UK-Licensed Online Casinos?
As of April 2020, The United Kingdom Gambling Commission banned all UK-licensed online casinos from accepting credit cards as a payment method. This means no credit cards can be used to deposit or withdraw at any casino with a UK license. This also means casinos shouldn’t accept money from e-wallets or prepaid debit cards with funds that originated from a credit card. The use of debit cards is completely unaffected by this ban.
Withdrawing with Giropay in an Online Casino
Also withdrawing funds from the casino account follows the same procedure and normally the requested amount to be paid out is instantly available on the personal bank account of the player.
Advantages of Using Giropay
There are several advantages of using Giropay in online casinos:
- First of all, it’s a completely safe and secure payment method.
- Secondly, the payments are carried out immediately so there’s no delay in the deposited amount becoming available to play with.
- Third, there’s no extra registration at a third party required as the player uses his or her regular internet banking account.
- Last but not least, the payments by Giropay are anonymous as no sensitive data about the depositor whatsoever is exchanged with the casino.
Disadvantages of Using Giropay
- Probably the biggest disadvantage of using Giropay is that for the transactions a fee is charged. These fees differ per bank that is used to make the payment (the online bank account of the player, that is) but normally between 0,9% and 1,2% is charged, plus € 0,08 per transaction.
- Another disadvantage is that Giropay is only available for German and Austrian players. However, the German and Austrian banks affiliated to Giropay are striving to expand the possibilities to use the system also for transnational payments.
Where to Pay with Giropay?
Giropay can be found in most online casinos that accept German and Austrian players to subscribe to their online betting and casino gaming establishment. To find out which NetEnt Casinos support Giropay deposits and withdrawals have a look at this page where those casinos are listed.