Zimbabwe has liberalized and legalized gambling. Most forms of gambling are legal from sports betting, and horse racing to casino games and the lottery. The liberalization of gambling in the country extends from physical betting halls to online betting sites. This is a great thing as sports punters and casino players can enjoy their favourite pastime at the platforms they rightly desire.
Sports punters and casino players who choose to engage in their favourite pastime at physical gambling establishments need not worry about anything as all they need is cold hard cash to place their wagers. However, those who decide to settle at online betting sites will among other things decide on the payment methods to use when depositing funds and requesting withdrawals.
In this comprehensive guide, we are going to expose and explore the payment gateways which are integrated the most on Zimbabwean betting sites.
Popular Payment Gateways in Zimbabwe
Ecocash
Arguably, the most popular payment gateway integrated into Zimbabwean betting sites is Ecocash. Ecocash is a mobile money platform which can only be used by Econet subscribers. With Econet being the dominant mobile network in Zimbabwe, millions of Zimbabweans have access to Ecocash hence its popularity. Besides the fact that Ecocash has a wide reach, it’s also super convenient to use as players simply have to dial the USSD code (151#) and all the functionalities are exposed. At most betting sites however, players don’t even need to dial the USSD code, rather, they just need to choose the Ecocash option, enter the amount they want to deposit and proceed to enter their PIN on their mobile device to authorize the transaction. When that happens, the funds swiftly move from the Ecocash wallet to the betting site wallet.
OneMoney
OneMoney is a mobile money platform for NetOne, Zimbabwe’s second-largest telecommunications company. OneMoney functions in almost the same way as Ecocash hence it’s an easy-to-use platform. The OneMoney banking method enables players to deposit or withdraw funds by simply inputting one’s PIN on their mobile device when everything else has been done online. The transactions are super-fast hence players can expect lightning-fast movement of funds from one wallet to the other.
Credit and Debit Cards (International)
On the local payment methods front, Ecocash and OneMoney are essentially the main methods available for Zimbabwean sports punters and casino players. While these are rather limited, players can find solace in the fact that a good number of Zimbabwean betting sites so accept international payment methods mainly credit and debit cards (MasterCard and Visa). When it comes to these international payment methods, players just need to input their card details on the betting site and the payment will be processed promptly.
PayNow
PayNow isn’t a payment method per se but rather, it’s a payment gateway. It’s a platform which facilitates the processing of transactions for deposits. On the PayNow platform, players can use any of the above-mentioned payment methods such as Ecocash, OneMoney and credit/debit cards to deposit funds. The beauty of using PayNow as a third party rather than using Ecocash or OneMoney directly is that players will not share their details directly with the betting site.
Round Up
As we round up, we just want to state that the number of banking methods integrated on most Zimbabwean betting sites is rather limited when compared to other countries. Despite this, however, the supported methods have a wide reach hence are accessible and available to most sports punters and casino players. One of the main reasons behind the limited banking methods available at betting sites is that Zimbabwe is a blacklisted country in the global finance world hence transactions that are reliant on the SWIFT financial system such as bank transfers and eWallets (PayPal, Skrill etc.) aren’t permitted.