Best Online Casinos that Accept iDeal Payments in 2021

IDEAL is an internet payment method, described as an 'enhanced online bank transfer', that allows people to pay for goods quickly and securely. Only available to users with a Dutch IBAN, its use is confined to the Netherlands, where it's known as one of the most popular payments in the country.

If you're in the Netherlands, you can use iDEAL to pay for a wide range of goods and services, as well as to make online casino deposits. This page will tell you how to do that, as well as a brief history of iDEAL as a company, the pros and cons of using the method, and how to find bonuses offered by iDEAL casinos.

1. About iDEAL
2. The pros and cons of iDEAL
3. How to use iDEAL in online casinos
4. Finding the best iDEAL casino for you
5. iDEAL casino bonuses

iDEAL - one of the Netherlands' biggest payment platforms

The early years of the 21st century were an exciting time for internet users as e-commerce turned mainstream and became a part of everyday life. It didn't come without risks, however. Consumers had to share their financial data with merchants, who were sometimes subject to cyber-attacks and theft, as well as some of them being unscrupulous themselves.

Payment services started to appear, offering a secure 'halfway house' between consumer and merchant, and iDEAL was one of those. Launched in 2005 by the company Currence, its four-corner payment model, which generated a SEPA credit transfer on behalf of the consumer, quickly grew in popularity.

iDEAL partnered with a network of Dutch banks, including ING and Friesland, to build their customer base. By 2011, iDEAL transactions numbered nearly 100 million a year and it accounted for 54% of all Dutch e-commerce payments in 2015, far outranking credit cards and famous internet providers like PayPal.

Commerce built on this success by expanding iDEAL's capabilities. Customers could send payment requests to other users via email or WhatsApp as the service became mobile-friendly. Users can use the iDEAL mobile app today to keep track of their expenditure and it's compatible with apps such as Tikkie, a popular payment app in a similar vein to Venmo and Bizum. A full update of the company's infrastructure, known as iDEAL 2.0 also took place at the end of 2020, promising a seamless user experience.

Far from being pushed out by competitors, iDEAL has continued to thrive since, winning the international MPE award for Best Alternative Payment Method and posting annual increases in transactions in recent years.

The pros and cons of iDEAL

It's easy to see why iDEAL has enjoyed so much success: its secure SSL-encrypted payment service has been a big help to online consumers, especially in the early days of e-commerce, and it has built a large, loyal client base of people who are happy with its service.

One of the reasons is that it's super easy to get started. You don't need to prove your identity or fill out paperwork: just enter a few bank details and start using it immediately.

It's also extremely quick. The average iDEAL payment takes only a few seconds, which is something that we have come to expect nowadays, but still looks impressive next to some bank transfers that can take up to 48 hours.

Another bow to iDEAL's arrow is its low cost. Customers shouldn't have to pay anything other than the bank's charge, if applicable, with iDEAL charging the merchant for the transaction.

Despite the above, there are a few possible negatives to bear in mind. First, while iDEAL is secure, it doesn't offer customers protection in case something goes wrong with a payment. Let's say the merchant refuses to send a product after receiving the money, or you accidentally send the funds to the wrong place: iDEAL wouldn't offer insurance or be able to reverse the transaction as some banks might. In such cases, the bank which you hold your funds in would be the only party who could help: iDEAL state this on their website, and don't offer any live chat troubleshooting to help.

Finally, iDEAL is also only available to users in the Netherlands, which means users in other countries can't enjoy the benefits of their service.

How to use iDEAL in an online casino

Making a deposit in an iDEAL casino is very easy and shouldn't take you more than a couple of minutes, whether via desktop or mobile.

First, though, make sure you have an account set up at your chosen casino so that it's ready to receive your funds. Then, the cashier section of the casino is your next port of call: choose iDEAL as the payment method and enter your bank details. You should then be asked to fill in the deposit amount and complete the 2-factor authentication security process to finish off. Remember to always double-check your details, just to be sure.

The money should appear in your casino balance right away, but it might take longer if there are issues. If it takes more than a few hours, then you should contact your bank or the casino and ask them to investigate.

At the time of writing in June 2021, it's not possible to use iDEAL for casino withdrawals, although this might change in the future. If you want to get hold of your money, then you will have to use another banking method.

How to find the best iDEAL casino for you

The most important part of playing online is to be safe. This means finding a reliable iDEAL casino to play on: there's no point in playing for money if the site can't be trusted to give it to you if you win.

This page's filters, then, arrange the sites so that you can quickly locate the best ones. The 'Recommended' tab will draw up the best iDEAL casinos, according to the Casino Guru team, when you click on it. These are the ones that give you the best chance of having a great playing experience.

Alternatively, clicking 'Newly opened' will give you new iDEAL casinos. These often have attractive welcome offers as they try and build a customer base, although they might be so new that they're a bit of an unknown quantity. To get the full list of iDEAL casinos meanwhile, just select 'All'.

How to find bonuses offered by iDEAL casinos

If you've signed up to an online casino before, then you'll probably have been offered a bonus or two. Casinos often award deposit bonus after you've put money down, or even a no deposit bonus which only requires you to sign up.

You can find bonuses offered by iDEAL casinos on Casino Guru. The first option is to go to our list of casino bonuses, and select the 'iDEAL' option. You'll then see all the iDEAL casino bonuses and you can organize according to type – to see deposit bonuses, for example, then select the 'Deposit Bonus' box in the 'Bonus Type' section. You'll get the same options by going to our list of deposit bonuses and selecting the 'iDEAL' box there.

Any option that you find should be relevant and up to date thanks to the Casino Guru team's hard work.