GCash in Filipino Casinos

Online gambling in the Philippines is going stronger than ever, with hundreds of operators having access to the market, and millions of players joining in on a daily basis. While all of that sounds excellent, players are faced with difficulties when it comes to the payment solutions choice offered across casino sites. Filipino players had to resort to costly global payment solutions due to the lack of local options, right until GCash appeared. This local virtual wallet solved all the problems Filipinos were facing across online casinos, and that's why its popularity among players continues to increase. If you're a player from the Philippines yourself, who was in search of the most suitable payment solution to use across online casinos that accept Filipinos, stay right here as you'll soon learn all about this incredible solution. What is GCash and why use it as your default payment method across Filipino casinos?

Online Gambling Regulation in the Philippines

The Philippines has had quite a nice land-based gambling industry running for years, perfectly legal and regulated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation. PAGCOR was responsible for issuing licenses and overseeing brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, be that poker clubs, bingo parlors, betting shops, or casino venues. The watchdog was in charge of approving licenses for different verticals to interested operators, including this unique vertical, eGames, which is often confused for online casino games, but that’s not the case. These eGames are games connected through terminals and offered across gambling venues offline, which are nothing like online casino games.

In fact, online casino games were legalized only in 2012 officially. This happened when the body assigned to issuing licenses to online gambling operators in the region, the Cagayan Freeport, started licensing operators based offshore to offer their services to the Asian online gambling markets. All those sites that had a CEZA license were allowed to accept Filipinos, thanks to the approval given by the Court of Appeal. This means that, as a Filipino, you have free access to all international online casino sites that cater to players from the Philippines. You shouldn't worry about being prosecuted or getting penalized for frequenting online casinos, since you're legally allowed to.

PAGCOR even extended regulatory framework to push the Philippines industry forward, with the intent to make the country a leading gaming destination in Asia. Plenty of operators and software developers, applied for and obtained their licenses to offer their services to the market, so you can rest assured that your choices will be varied, both in terms of sites and games to check out.

Talking about games, you will get access to all kinds, so regardless of whether you enjoy playing slots, video poker, table games, or you’d like to try your luck on Live Casino games, you’ll have them all at your disposal, brought to you by the likes of Vivo Gaming, Evolution, and Play’n GO, among other leading software developers.

Therefore, all you have to think about next is the payment solution you’ll use to get the most effortless online gambling experience. You should consider using a local solution like GCash, actually, so that your transactions are the most inexpensive and easiest to make. GCash is, actually, a Philippines-based mobile wallet solution that will be the easiest to use forboth deposits and withdrawals in Philippine pesos, offered across a great deal of online casinos that accept players from the Philippines. So, if you wish to know more about it, continue reading as we’ll take you through all the important details next.

Using GCash Across Filipino Online Casinos

A leading mobile company called Mynt, an affiliate of Globe FinTech Innovations Inc, Ant Group, and Ayala, founded in 2015 launched GCash with the purpose of including mobile money, financial services, and technologies to the Filipino market. The company is dubbed as the double unicorn in its home market, thanks to the fact that it has the support of both national and international shareholders.

Basically, GCash is a digital wallet that offers micropayment services and is one of the most easily accessible, trustworthy, and user-friendly alternative payment solutions in the country. It facilitates the way in which users make transactions online, with just a few taps on their mobile devices. It is supported by more than 70 banks and all it takes to use it, is a quick registration with a mobile phone number. Assuming you’re a Filipino citizen, and you have a mobile device, hurry up and download its app on your iOS or Android device, from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, respectively.

Once you open the app, enter your phone number and sign up for an account by entering your full name, birthdate, email, nationality, home address, and source of income in the designated fields. Verify your account here quickly, to get better conditions and limits, up to PHP100,000 to store, send and receive, for instance. Just take a selfie or scan your ID and attach it, and you’ll be good to go.

The next step would be funding your eWallet. You can link a bank account you have with BDO, BPI, Union Bank, Metro-Bank, East-West Bank, or AUB, for instance, use Western Union or other global partners, or just visit one of the many over-the-counter convenience stores to fund your account, like Ministop, South Star Drug, Alfamart, SM Supermarket or Puregold, for example. There’s even a tool on its official website, where by entering your home address, you can find the nearest Cash-In-Partner to your location to visit and top up your eWallet account. Of course, some fees will apply for the impeccable services and functionalities offered, so make sure you find more about them on its official website, but rest assured that they will be quite affordable.

So, if you liked the sound of all of this and you want to give it a go, continue reading to discover how to use it across online casinos. We’ll take you through the exact steps you need to take to successfully make deposits and withdrawals with it across all casinos that cater to Filipino players.

Depositing and Withdrawing with GCash

As a Filipino player, you probably won’t find a better solution than GCash to use across online casinos. Thankfully, the solution is already listed as an accepted method across a decent number of sites, with more to start accepting it in the future, due to the perks it offers Filipino players. So, your first task would be finding a suitable casino to join. The best part is, even if the operator you wish to register an account with is not a registered GCash user, the solution can still be used for deposits at least. But it must be a registered GCash user if you wish to cash out winnings from the casino with it, so that’s why the wisest thing to do is look for a site that already displays its logo on the list of accepted methods.

Once you’ve found the right casino for you, create an account with it. To successfully make a deposit with GCash at a Filipino casino, follow these steps:

1. Log into your online casino player profile and find the Banking/Cashier page.
2. Look for GCash’s logo in the Deposits section and press it.
3. Enter your app and browse the dashboard to find the Send option.
4. Tap Express Send and find the operator's phone number on the Contact list if the operator is a registered GCash user; if not, call its Support agents to get the exact number.*
5. Enter the amount you want to send and tap Next.
6. Double-check the details on your request, press Send and the funds will immediately arrive on your balance.

*In step 4, instead of using the casino’s phone number to complete the transfer, you can USE THE Send Money to a Bank option and use the operator’s bank account number to send the money directly to their bank account.

As far as withdrawals go, the procedure is pretty much the same, only this time you’re selecting the Request Money option on the dashboard. Next, you press Request and tap New Request. Enter the amount you wish to cash out and select the operator’s number from the Contacts list. Confirm your request and wait for it to get to the operator. The operator will review it and eventually approve it. As soon as it does, the money will instantly appear on your eWallet account. From there, you can order a GCash MasterCard card on the spot, to withdraw your winnings in cash at any ATM, or visit any of the over 400,000 outlets in the Philippines to get them.

Conclusion

It is no rocket science to understand how convenient GCash is for Filipino players. This is a local alternative banking solution, which allows you to fund your online casino account and cash out winnings from it in just a few taps on your mobile device. It is effortless to get started with and use, and listed as an accepted method across many Filipino casinos already. So, make sure you get started with it today, to give it a try at your favorite online casino, and you’ll see how practical it is to use.