Neteller

The history of the service is complex. It was originally set up in Canada around the turn of the century, and was primarily used as a means of financing online gambling in the United States. At its peak, fee revenues approached $240 million dollars, with around 90% of its revenues derived from gambling fees. However, regulatory and legal problems soon hit hard. The legal status of gambling in the US is always complex, with many States operating an outright ban and internet gambling often illegal. When the operators moved their base to the Isle of Man in 2004, problems mounted as it was now regarded as a foreign operator in the United States. As a result, the company and its users’ assets were frozen and not returned for a considerable time. Understandably, this hit the company’s revenue hard, and an attempt has been made to diversify into more general internet trading in subsequent years. This has been partially successful as revenues have recovered in recent years, but are still nowhere near their 2006 peak. It is, after all, effectively in competition with the American giant PayPal, making diversification into this market particularly difficult.

It is important to note that Neteller is not a bank, so it does not lend customers funds. Instead, all deposits must be kept in a separate fund, independently of its own operating cash, and must retain sufficient liquid cash to repay all its customers on demand. It is currently regulated by the UK Government’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The ownership and operation of all the various different e-payment methods has been complex, and all the companies have undergone many changes in ownership in recent years. The precise history and movement of these payment operations would probably require the services of a forensic accountant and would make a very long (and boring) book. Suffice it to say that at the time of writing (2016), most of the available e-payment methods (other than PayPal), including Ukash, Skrill and Neteller are all owned by the Isle of Man based Paysafe Group PLC. This group is regulated in the United Kingdom, and is also the company behind the Paysafecard pre-payment card method.

Setting up a Neteller account is an easy process. It’s free to join, you just need an e-mail address. There are well over fifty different ways of depositing money into your account, and you can even send money to people who don’t have an account, so long as you know their e-mail address (although they will have to sign up to withdraw the cash).

Although Neteller is still maintaining its efforts at diversification, its history means that it remains a very popular means of making payments to online bingo sited for United Kingdom based players. It is accepted on the majority of sites, and is a very quick and convenient way to fund the playing of your favourite game. To find the best of the hundreds of sites that accept Neteller in the UK, just remember to check out our comprehensive and detailed site reviews here at Busy Bee.