Online betting site NetBet have broken some new ground in the industry by becoming the first UK-licensed operator to offer Bitcoin payment options. This option will be available to their UK punters only. This week the operator announced that through Bitcoin payment service provider Bitpay, that NetBet become the first online gambling operator licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) to offer Bitcoin deposit and withdrawal options to its online sports betting customers.
The operator took the decision to offer Bitcoin services in order to serve the UK’s growing digital currency user base. The use of Bitcoin in the UK is still something of a novelty at the moment, particularly in the online gambling market place, but the partnership between Netbet and Bitpay (who claim to be the biggest payment processor of Bitcoin) have ensured that everything meets the UKGC requirements in terms of security and policies.
The UKGC said that it was reminding its licensees that they needed to ensure proper anti-money laundering and social responsibility obligations regardless of what currencies that operators accepted.
Sky Bet have also launched a new payment processing option for punters as they have integrated Apple Pay into its approved deposit methods. Earlier this month Apple Pay was added to their services meaning that Sky Bet players who have an iPhone 6 or higher, iPad pro, iPad Air 2 or Apple Watch can now make deposits and withdraws. Deposits at Sky Bet through Apple Pay are instant but withdrawals take 3-5 days and can only be made to the bank card registered to a customer’s account (and currently only Visa cards are accepted).
