Introduction:  

Eight of the biggest banks in the Netherlands got together and created an organization known as Currence which was responsible for developing iDeal in 2005. iDeal is an online payment system that was introduced in the Dutch market and has become one of the most popular means of payment with Dutch people. The company is reported to have processed more than 1 billion transactions in 2016 and is widely accepted throughout the Netherlands.

Although iDeal was initially developed to focus on the Dutch market, during the last couple of years the company has looked at expanding its services in the European market and turning iDeal into an international payment processing provider. iDeal is very similar to some of the other European payment processing companies such as Germany’s Giropay and Finland’s Euteller. There are also a few online casinos that accept iDeal deposits and a number of Dutch online casino players frequently play at these casinos.

The only way for one to register for an iDeal account is to be an account holder at one of the Dutch banks that offer iDeal services. The Dutch banks that currently offer iDeal services include Rabobank, ABN Amro, SNS Bank, ASN Bank, ING Bank, bunq, Triodos Bank, Friesland Bank, Van Lanschot and Knab.

Benefits

✓  Speed:  One of the reasons why iDeal processing is so popular in the Netherlands and has surpassed credit card processing is because the service is very reliable and fast. If a player decides to use iDeal to make a deposit at an online casino, the deposit takes place immediately between the player’s bank and the online casino. Hence players will face no delay in topping up their account and continuing their online casino gaming experience.

✓  Security: Since a player does not have to disclose any of their personal information or share their debit or credit card details with an online casino, they are protected from cyber attacks and data breaches. Banks and financial institutions use the latest cyber security to ensure that their customer’s details are protected at all times.

Limitations

✓  Availability: iDeal processing services is currently available only in the Netherlands as they are issued by Dutch banks as of now. Thus if you do not have a bank account with a Dutch bank that processes iDeal payments, you will not be able to get an iDeal account.

✓  Limited Online Casinos: There are a limited number of online casinos that accept iDeal payments. Players who want to use their iDeal account at an online casino are encouraged to first check if the online casino accepts iDeal payments before signing up.

✓  Less Attractive Bonuses:  There are a number of online casinos that regularly offer exciting bonuses and promotions to new players. However most of these online casinos do not accept iDeal payments. So if a player is relying solely on their iDeal account, they will not be able sign up at these online casinos and receive these attractive bonuses.

Summary

iDeal is a payment processing service that is popular in the Netherlands but is yet to become a global network. There are a few online casinos that accept iDeal payments.