It’s true that the promise of online poker in Pennsylvania has, once again, been slightly delayed. July 15 came and went without the opening of a new online card room, disappointing many of those players were are eager to get back into the online game.

There is some forward momentum and some rumblings that one of the major online poker operators will open their virtual doors in the not-too-distant future, giving online grinders their first taste of the new frontier of legal, regulated online poker in the Keystone State.

Since it’s been a little while since some of you have had the opportunity to earn an online poker deposit bonus we wanted to take the opportunity to give you some insight on taking that first step when online poker goes live.

Ways To Deposit

Regulation of online poker has its benefits, one of which is the ease in how players can move their bankroll around. Here are the most popular ways players will be able to get started.

Visa/Mastercard

For some, putting their first deposit on an online site will be as easy as reaching in their wallet and using their own major credit card. Visa and MasterCard are, for the most part, the most accessible forms of payment in regulated states including Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware.

A couple of items of note when using a Visa/MasterCard to make a deposit: when you use this method to deposit, however, it usually is not the same method used when you withdraw. This means that online sites don’t put money back on a card as payment. Also, there are some banks that will have a limit or even restrict credit cards from being used in an online gaming situation. Those instances will be bank-specific, so if that happens to be your bank there are plenty of other ways to get funds online.

Pre-paid Credit Cards

If your bank is one that restricts payments to online poker sites, a pre-paid credit card is another valuable option. These cards can be bought in many mainstream convenience stores and are used just like a credit card with funds being deposited online instantaneously.

Cash At Cage

Every online operator is paired with a land-based casino. For example, PokerStars PA is a partner of the Mount Airy Casino Resort Spa. Traditionally, those casinos allow players to pay in cash, on-site, for deposit into their online account. So, if a player is looking to put money on WSOP.com, they will be able to do so while they are playing at Harrah’s Philadelphia by simply taking their cash to the cage, then heading home to play online.

Online Banking/Instant eChecks

Instant eChecks are just like regular checks, but online, with funds being transferred from a checking account electronically (ETF electronic funds transfer). Just like a paper check, those funds aren’t taken out of a checking account immediately, it will usually be overnight and sometimes up to seven days for the deposit to clear.

In many cases, the online poker site will credit your account right away, allowing you access to those funds to play. But a player cannot withdraw those funds back until the check officially clears. If the balance in your account is greater than the amount of the eCheck, a player can withdraw the difference. However, only once the eCheck clears are the eCheck funds free to be taken back. eChecks are one of the methods of deposit that is also available to use for withdrawal.

PayNearMe

The PayNearMe option is available at 7-Eleven stores in Pennsylvania and allows players to use cash to deposit online, similar to paying cash at the cage. Players obtain a barcoded PaySlip from their online casino and can then go to any local 7-Eleven with the PayNearMe service and present both the PaySlip and the cash for an instant transfer of funds to an online account.

Other Possible Deposit Methods

All of the above deposit methods are currently in use for online gaming in Pennsylvania. However, as online poker expands, popular deposit methods may make their way into the community as additional ways to get money onto poker sites.

Skrill

Skrill is a popular electronic wallet that allows players to hold funds online and transfer back and forth from an online poker site and their own bank. Skrill accounts are funded from a variety of payment methods, including bank transfers and debit cards, and then used as an intermediary to make payments for purchases or, in this instance, deposit funds on an online site without having to provide credit card information.

VanillaDirect

VanillaDirect is similar to PayNearMe where you obtain a barcoded slip from the online poker cashier and then present the slip and the amount you wish deposited to a VanillaDirect retailer like Dollar General.

PayPal

One of the most popular electronic money transfer services on the planet is PayPal. It has had an on-and-off relationship with online poker, including being a former deposit method for a number of online poker sites. Currently, PayPal is widely available for both deposit and withdraw in the regulated states of New Jersey and Nevada and so players in Pennsylvania can be optimistic that PayPal will be up and running when online poker goes live.

As you can see, regulation really opens the doors on methods for depositing to your favorite online poker site. There will still be some popular options that are unlikely to make their way into the PA online poker landscape.

Direct Crypto

Players who have been dealing with the effects of Black Friday by playing in off-shore, unregulated sites are likely to have has some interaction with cryptocurrency and Bitcoin as a method of getting funds on and off those sites. In Pennsylvania, not only will that not be necessary but it’s nearly the opposite of what officials are looking for when they are talking about regulation.