Deposits and withdrawals at crypto casinos: coins, networks and fees

Paying a casino in crypto is not like paying by card. There is no bank in the middle, and nobody can reverse a payment sent to the wrong place. This guide explains how deposits and withdrawals work, what they cost, what slows them down, and what to check before you send anything.

How does a crypto deposit work?

1. On the casino's deposit page, you choose a coin and a network.
2. The casino shows you a deposit address. For some coins it also shows a memo or tag.
3. In your own wallet or exchange account, you paste the address, choose the same network, and send.
4. The network adds your payment to a block.
5. The casino adds the money to your balance once the network has confirmed the payment enough times.

An address is a long string of letters and numbers that says where the coins should go. A network is the blockchain the payment travels on. A blockchain is a shared public record of payments, built up in batches called blocks.

A confirmation is a count of blocks. Your payment has one confirmation when it is included in a block, and one more for every block added after that. The casino chooses how many it waits for. Look for the number on the deposit page or in the help pages.

Bitcoin's own guide for new users says this about what happens after you send:

A Bitcoin transaction cannot be reversed, it can only be refunded by the person receiving the funds.

On other networks too, a confirmed payment cannot be pulled back by the sender.

What is the most costly mistake?

Sending on the wrong network, or to an address that belongs to a different coin or network. The casino may never see the deposit, and you cannot pull it back.

Why does the network matter as much as the coin?

A coin and a network are not the same thing. USDT is one example. At the time of writing, in October 2026, its issuer lists it on more than a dozen networks, including Ethereum, Tron and Solana. Each network keeps its own separate record. USDT sent on Tron exists only on Tron. If the casino gave you an Ethereum address, it is looking for your deposit on Ethereum.

Often your wallet will catch the mistake, because networks use different address formats.

The check fails when two networks share a format. Ethereum-compatible networks are networks built to work like Ethereum, such as Polygon and Arbitrum. They all use the same style of address, starting with 0x. Your wallet will accept the address on any of them, and the payment will go through on a network the casino may not support.

Can a wrong-network deposit be recovered?

Usually not. A deposit address at a casino is controlled by the casino, not by you. Only the casino can move what arrives there, and only if its systems can reach that network at all.

At least one large exchange publishes a recovery process for deposits like this. It charges a fee and says recovery is not guaranteed. A casino may offer no process at all.

What about a typing mistake in the address?

Bitcoin addresses have a built-in check that rejects almost every typing mistake. No check can tell you that a valid address is the wrong one. Copy and paste the address, then compare the first and last few characters with the deposit page.

Which coins need a memo or tag?

Some networks let a business use one address for all its customers. A short extra code tells the business whose payment it is. On the XRP Ledger this is called a destination tag. On Stellar it is called a memo.

If you leave the code out, the payment can still arrive at the casino's address, but nothing links it to your account. The XRP Ledger's documentation says this "can require a manual intervention and a discussion with the sender". A receiver on the XRP Ledger can also set its address to reject payments that have no tag.

If the deposit page shows a memo or tag, it is not optional. The same applies in reverse. If you withdraw to an exchange that gives you a memo or tag, enter it on the casino's withdrawal form.

What fees will you pay?

A network fee is the charge for using the network. None of it goes to the casino. On Bitcoin, the fee pays the miners who process payments, and it depends on the size of the transaction in data, not on the amount sent. On Ethereum, the fee rises and falls with demand, and it is paid even when a transaction fails.

That is why this guide gives no fee figures. They change with demand. Your wallet shows the fee before you confirm.

A casino can also set a minimum deposit and a minimum withdrawal. Check both before you send.

A flat fee takes a bigger share of a small payment. A fee of 2 on a withdrawal of 20 is 10%. The same fee on a withdrawal of 200 is 1%.

How long does a deposit take?

It depends on three things: how often the network produces a block, how many confirmations the casino waits for, and how busy the network is.

These figures say how often a block is produced. They do not say how long your deposit will take. A casino that waits for two Bitcoin confirmations needs about 20 minutes on average. Six confirmations, a benchmark that Bitcoin's own FAQ mentions, is about an hour: 6 × 10 minutes.

Stablecoin or volatile coin: what changes?

A volatile coin, such as Bitcoin or Ether, changes in price all the time. A stablecoin is built to hold a steady value, for example one US dollar per coin.

Price risk applies to money sitting in a casino account. Say your balance is 0.01 BTC and you do not place a bet. If the price of Bitcoin falls 10%, your balance is worth 10% less. It works the other way when the price rises. This comes on top of whatever the games do to your balance.

A stablecoin takes away most of that movement. It does not take away all of it. The European Central Bank describes the main weakness of stablecoins as holders losing confidence that they can be exchanged at full value, which can break the fixed price.

Check one more thing. A casino can keep your balance in the coin you sent, or convert it into another currency, such as US dollars, when it arrives. The terms or the cashier page should say which. If the casino converts, your balance stops moving with the coin's price, and the rate it uses matters on the way in and on the way out.

Whatever coin you use, the games have a house edge, so on average your balance goes down as you play.

How does a withdrawal work?

1. You enter the amount, the coin, the network and your own receiving address, with a memo or tag if your wallet or exchange needs one.
2. The casino checks the request. This can be automatic or done by a person.
3. The casino sends the payment. It should give you a transaction ID, which you can look up on a block explorer, a website that shows a network's payments.
4. The payment arrives once the network has confirmed it.

The network rule is the same in reverse. If you give the casino an address on the wrong network, the loss is yours.

What commonly delays a withdrawal?

• Identity checks. KYC stands for know your customer. The casino asks for documents that prove who you are. A casino can let you deposit and play without checks and still ask for them before it pays out. Read the terms to see when it can ask.
• Manual review. A request can sit as pending until a person approves it. Look for a stated processing time in the terms.
• Withdrawal limits. Terms can cap what you withdraw per day, week or month. With a limit of 2,000 a week, a balance of 10,000 takes five weeks to withdraw.
• Unfinished bonus wagering. If you took a bonus, its wagering requirement has to be met before bonus money can be withdrawn. The wagering calculator shows how much betting that is, and the guide to wagering requirements explains the terms.

Identity checks are tied to anti-money-laundering rules. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has said that such checks may justify a delay in paying out, but do not justify keeping a player's money. A casino licensed elsewhere may not be held to that standard. See the guide to checking a crypto casino is legit before you trust one with money.

Is a casino balance the same as a wallet?

No. With self-custody, you hold the keys and only you can move the coins. A casino account is custodial. The casino holds the coins and you hold a claim on them. If the casino freezes your account, is hacked, or shuts down, the coins are not in your control.

Even in Great Britain, where online casinos must hold a licence from the Gambling Commission, the regulator says:

Money staked or deposited with a gambling business is not protected by the Commission or government the way that personal bank accounts are.

What should you check before you deposit?

1. Read the withdrawal rules first: minimum withdrawal, fees, limits per day, week and month, and when identity checks can be asked for.
2. Check the coin and the network on the casino's deposit page.
3. Check the coin and the network again in your wallet before you send.
4. Look for a memo or tag on the deposit page.
5. Copy and paste the address, then compare the first and last few characters.
6. Send a small test payment first and wait until it shows in your balance.
7. Decide how much you can afford to lose, and deposit no more than that.

The guide to bankroll basics and betting systems covers setting a limit before you play.