Winning, and then collecting your real money, is the name of the game when playing at online poker sites. You could do everything right up until the time you need to make your poker room withdrawal, and then find out there is a problem. By using only the top rated and trusted websites, you will do just fine at whatever online poker rooms are chosen when it comes to online poker withdrawals.
The most important thing about payouts is their speed. You really do want to find those poker rooms with the fastest withdrawals since this can have a big effect of how much of your bankroll can be effectively harnessed at once. But there are a variety of different speeds offered by online poker rooms, along with some potential issues. In fact, you really should be thinking about your payout even before making your first deposit!
Never fear, though, as we have done all the research for you. By the time you have finished reading this guide to the fastest withdrawals at online poker sites, you will understand all about:
OUR TOP 5 PICKS FOR 2023
A big part of real money gaming is winning hard cash and being able to make the fastest withdrawals from your online poker room of choice. Many of the top online poker sites can unite you with your cash very rapidly indeed, but not all. Various factors affect this. Some payment methods are faster than others, and the difference can be hours, days and even weeks apart. Players looking to access their winnings quickly do well to find sites that offer the widest range of withdrawal options, so that if one method proves to slow they can switch to another.
Fast withdrawals are also reliant on the software and technology behind the online poker sites' cashier page. If the process is nice and simple, and as intuitive as the experience you get with online shopping, then you will be able to get the fastest withdrawals time and enjoy spending your winnings almost as soon as you leave the table. A less well designed cashier might prove far less user friendly, and leave you struggling for hours trying to work out what to do.
Our reviewers have the technical knowledge and player experience to know what to try and test out at the cashier. All of the sites recommended on this page have proved that they can process payouts from a range of transaction methods, whether PayPal, debit cards, credit cards, echecks or vouchers, and that the whole process is speedy and offers players the fastest withdrawals.
In the real world, how fast your payout is processed can depend a great deal upon the actual deposit method you have chosen to use. From the perspective of your online poker rooms, this is really all about the complexity of the processing and if there are any governments or government regulations with which they need to comply.
With credit and debit cards, there are some regulations in certain locations. The above section already discussed a bit about why poker players can have a delay when an online poker room processes their payout onto a credit or debit card. Going through such a regulated financial system just takes time, unless they are one of the poker rooms who have already made special arrangements.
Online poker rooms also offer a number of payment methods called online wallets, or even e-wallets. Think of PayPal, which is a type of electronic wallet. Basically, you make payments into that e-wallet and then use it to fund your online poker accounts. This also ensures the fastest withdrawals, poker sites don't technically need to go through any kind of regulated financial system. There are also wire services, like Western Union, that ensure very fast deposits and withdrawals.
There are issues that can pop up related to obtaining your fastest withdrawals, online poker sites tend to be domiciled in foreign countries or jurisdictions and this can cause difficulties. This means that whenever you are taking a withdrawal from these online poker sites, it is like having a foreign corporation send money to your bank account (assuming a credit or debit card payout option). Countries have different legal and financial laws governing online poker sites and gambling, and this can limit or slow down the process.
With all of the laws related to privacy and security, sometimes these transactions are flagged and need to be reviewed. This can add to the time your poker room takes to complete the requested withdrawal. In some cases, the amount of the withdrawal can lead to additional issues. The bottom line is that to ensure the fastest withdrawals from your favorite online poker sites, you need to use good thought and planning.
Asking which of the payment methods offered by online poker sites are best is really a loaded question. If you are simply talking about which options will lead to the fastest withdrawals, then you would most likely want some type of e-wallet system. There are actually many of these, such as Skrill and Neteller; even PayPal could technically be considered an e-wallet system. The problem is that online poker rooms tend to be limited in the number of e-wallet accounts they use and offer. On the other hand, the e-wallet accounts also may not be open to players in certain areas or countries.
For obtaining the top fastest withdrawals, poker online sites offer wire transfers and wire services. Methods like Western Union are very fast both to make deposits and to obtain your withdrawal or payout. In many cases, you can even use a credit card, paid to Western Union (who then makes the transfer to those poker rooms). When the deposit comes through, however, you are most likely going to have to physically visit your local WU location and pick it up in real cash, which be a bit of an inconvenience.
You may even be able to do a direct bank to bank wire transfer. The online poker site's bank wires your fastest withdrawal directly to your bank account. This is easier said than done as it requires a lot of paperwork on the part of your online poker room. They are probably going to add a charge onto this type of service. It can also be an inconvenience waiting and wondering whether everything was done just right and hoping the wire transfer comes through (sometimes they get rejected for the smallest of reasons).
If you've read this far then you clearly like to do your research to find the best poker rooms and the fastest withdrawal times at online poker sites. Our team does too, and we can give you a little insight here as to how we rate the poker rooms you can see shortlisted on this page.
We don't just focus on the fastest withdrawals, though we obviously like to see payout times that are within 24 hours and no more than 2 or 3 days. On top of achieving fast cashout times for our readers, we look for online poker sites that are flexible, and that can cater for a range of withdrawal options, whether an e-wallet, credit card, voucher or PayPal.
We also look for a quality poker gaming experience for our visitors, with a range of stakes and competition level, and plenty of tournaments to keep things interesting. All of the sites we've recommended here also come with excellent player support that's available 24/7, accommodating players from around the world and in every time zone. Online poker fans can be sure they'll get a great game on, whether mobile or on a desktop.