All transactions being made to and from an online casino have fees, but the big question is if you have to pay them, or if the casino covers them for you. There’s a huge difference between casinos when it comes to fees, and especially when it comes to withdrawal fees. Some will let you completely off the hook by covering all the fees for you, while others will even add on extra fees.
Transaction fees
There is always a transaction fee for a withdrawal from an online casino, no matter which payment method you choose to use. This is because the casinos are using payment providers to actually process the transactions for them, and they also want to get paid for their efforts. How much this is will vary, but it can be anything from 1% to 5%. For card transactions it’s always 2,5%, and this also goes for deposits using these cards.
However, it’s quite common that you won’t ever see any of these fees, as casinos often choose to cover them for you. That being said, there are more casinos covering fees for deposits than for withdrawals, as a player might choose another casino to avoid paying extra for depositing, while a player who has already deposited and won, will just pay whatever is necessary to cash-out any winnings, as there is not really any other choice at this point. So make sure to check fees for both deposits and withdrawals before you choose your next casino. Some also have fees for most payment methods but also offer one that is free, and that’s usually a wire transfer. So just make sure you deposit with a payment method which allows you to withdraw to whichever withdrawal method is offered for free.
If a casino does charge you fees when withdrawing, this is usually a percentage of the withdrawal, but it is also usually capped. That means that you can pay, for instance 2,5% fee for the transaction, up to $50 or something like that. That way you don’t get too much in fees if you get a really big win.
Processing fees
Another fee you might see is a processing fee, and this is something the casino itself is charging you for. This can be a percentage, but most often it’s a flat fee no matter how much you choose to cash-out. The normal fee for this would be between $2 and $5, making it expensive to withdraw a lot of small amounts.
Even if a casino charges a fee like this, which is not that common, you might be able to get some free withdrawals as well. Often you’ll get some free payouts during the week or month, before you pay the fee for any additional cash-outs. This is something they do to make players cut down on a lot of small withdrawals, as it takes time to process them all.
Unfortunately, casinos aren’t very good at displaying these fees until you actually get to the withdrawal page, and by then it’s usually too late, and then you have to pay what they are asking for to get your money out. Checking this in their terms and conditions before you start depositing and playing, is therefore be the smart thing to do.
Currency exchange fees
As most Canadian online casinos are based in either Malta or Cyprus euros are the local currency, and as we Canadians most often play with CAD as currency there is an exchange needed. Most often you won’t have to actually pay the exchange fees, but sometimes you do. The same goes for the ones for a transaction, and that is that the casino will often cover them for you, but it’s more common for them to cover the fees for deposits rather than for withdrawals.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you actually play with a different currency to CAD, at some casinos you could be playing with EUR, and that can be a costly affair when you want to withdraw winnings. Even if the casino will cover all the fees on their end of the transaction the money will be sent to your in EUR, and that means your bank will have to exchange them into CAD for you, and that’s not something they ever do for free. How much you have to pay for this will depend on the bank you are using, so checking it out with them beforehand is recommended, or alternatively you could open a euro account to avoid the exchange fee.