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Is Play+ the solution for online casino and sportsbook payment issues?

Play+ is one of the most popular e-wallets featured as a payment option on many of the top online sportsbooks and casinos. The digital wallet claims to allow quick, safe and reliable deposits and withdrawals. Also, it can be used for shopping anywhere Discover Cards are accepted or as an ATM card.

With Play+ popping up all over the world of legal betting, we decided to give it a whirl and find out what it has to offer players in the new legal betting states.


Other Deposit and Withdraw Methods

Play+ claims to be a ‘fast and easy’ way to deposit money at online casinos and sportsbooks. Depositing from an online banking account requires inputing private information and waiting for your bank’s approval. Credit/Debit card deposits are likely to be blocked by the credit institution (especially Visa), and nobody is really going to pay with cash at a 711 store or perform a wire transfer.

So, this leaves Paypal and Play+ as the best options for depositing at an online casinos or sportsbooks. But, how do these two digital wallet options compare?


The Deposit Test

Is it Paypal or Play+ that is really better for deposits and withdrawals at online casinos and sportsbooks? We tested both methods at New Jersey’s SugarHouse Online Casino.

Depositing via both wallets was simple and fast at both of the online gaming sites where we tested. Using either payment option will get funds into your betting account instantly. Opting into Play+ at Unibet PA for the first time was simple too. It only took an additional 1 minute to agree to the terms, and input my credit card that will now be saved for future use. Creating the Play+ account does not require leaving the Unibet PA site either. It’s all done right there in the deposit pop-up window.

The conclusion: you cannot go wrong with either Paypal or Play+ when it comes to depositing ease and speed. Both are simple and fast.

The Withdraw Test

We then tested Paypal withdrawal speed at Sugarhouse. After submitting our request to withdraw from the account, we got an email stating that it could take ‘up to 72 hours for normal processing and approval’. We were worried that this could mean a very long wait to get our winnings. But surprisingly, the funds actually arrived in our PayPal account within 2 hours of withdrawing from Sugarhouse.


Withdrawing to Play+ from Sugarhouse took longer. The transaction was finally approved around 24 hours later. Play+ advertises that “if time is money, Play+ is priceless”. Maybe PayPal has a higher exchange rate on time! But, we will need to test both systems at other sportsbooks and casinos to really know for sure.

The conclusion: Withdrawing to PayPal seems a lot faster.

Betting with a Credit Card

It might not be faster, or easier, but Play+ is the best solution for betting with a credit card. Many US banks and credit institutions block payments for online gambling. In fact, our Visa was denied by Sugarhouse when writing this article.

Play+ solves this problem. We were able to fund our wallet using a Visa card, then seamlessly deposit from the wallet to our Sugarhouse account.


With PayPal, you cannot fund a gambling account using a credit card. Only your PayPal wallet balance or linked bank accounts are acceptable sources of funds. Credit cards also cannot be used to add funds to a PayPal wallet.

How do you log into your Play+ account to check your balance?

The answer is not as straight forward as one might think. When you register for Play+, you do it through your online casino or sportsbook cashier. Then, you receive a confirmation email. However, there is no indication of your new account number nor are there any instructions for checking your balance.

A little digging revealed this page. It’s the portal to Play+ accounts. But the problem is that there is no obvious way to get this account information until you receive a physical Play+ card via snail mail (10-14 days).

Play+ account info

We called Play+ support at 702.359.6439 to find out how to access our new account sooner. They were able to provide the information, so that we could log-in before receiving our card in the mail. Also, they clarified that we had actually created two different Play+ accounts through our test at Sugarhouse and a previous test at Unibet PA. We will be getting a separate card for each one. Separate accounts could become complicated if you use multiple sportsbooks and casinos to always get the best bonuses and odds.

PayPal, on the other hand, keeps everything in one place. It has a simple app and sends notifications whenever money comes-in or goes-out.

So, if you want to use a credit or debit card for betting, you are probably going to need Play+.

The Fees, Please

Play+ charges $2 for ATM withdrawals, $2 for transfers to bank accounts and $2.95 monthly fee after 6 months of inactivity. The monthly activity fee could be problematic if you set up multiple betting site accounts through Play+ and lose track of your transactions over time. Remember, each Play+ account is a separate account and login.

PayPal has a similar fee structure, with a 1% charge for transfers to US bank accounts. Also, there is no inactivity fee with PayPal.

Should I use Play+ for betting?

Play+ is a legit solution for betting with a credit card. But otherwise we will keep using PayPal to avoid slower withdrawals and a separate Play+ account for each betting site.

Casino offer from Unibet.  Use Play+ to deposit and withdraw
Register now at Unibet NJ or Unibet PA to claim this offer.

Must be 21+. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER if you have a gambling problem.