If we were all completely honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that there is always at least one area in our lives that we are very tempted to overspend on. For some it is shoes and handbags, for others it is eating out or buying new gadgets, and for still others, it is online gaming. Whatever our guilty pleasure is that tempts us to spend beyond our means, it is something that we need to pay attention to and develop a strategy towards. Some people will decide to cut up their credit cards, while others will try to adhere to self imposed limits. Whatever your strategy, there are moments of weakness until we have mastered the self discipline necessary to act wisely in that particular situation. As you endeavor to develop strength in this area, it is a good idea to have some tools on hand for those moments of weakness. Turns out that at least one of these tools not only restricts spending, but it also provides added security in keeping your personal financial information form circulating out there in cyberspace. If you are a USA player, this tool will provide an effective online deposit method that legally bypasses the restrictions placed on credit card transactions.

So what is this magical tool? It is the prepaid debit or gift card. These cards have limits which were either set by the card company with designated monetary increments at purchase, or limits which were set by you based on how much you have loaded onto the card. Because of this, the prepaid card will shut you down in the event that you are unable to shut yourself down. And lets face it, we have all been there. We just ‘know’ that the next hand or the next spin is that big win for us…so we keep going and keep going, long after we should have shut it down. When our brains check out, the prepaid limits check in and then help us to help ourselves.

The prepaid cards come in a few different variations. Visa, MasterCard and American Express all offer prepaid debit cards and prepaid gift cards, and there are several additional brands for European players only. The difference being that prepaid debit cards are re-loadable and can be used over and over, and gift cards are bought in specific increments. There are actual re-loadable cards that you can buy in a store, or virtual ones that you can buy online. There are even prepaid ewallet accounts that let you fund the account prior to spending cash. It simply depends on which variation suits your casino banking needs best. If you truly have trouble with over spending, then you might want to start out with the gift cards which cannot be re-loaded. The debit cards require slightly more discipline, but are the best way to set self imposed limits and be forced to stick with it. The only way that this will backfire is if you ignore the fact that you have reached your limit and you just go reload the card at will. This will entirely defeat the purpose of limiting your spending via prepaid debit card.

Prepaid debit and gift cards have some additional advantages other than keeping you from going over the top with spending. They also offer an additional layer of protection for you as none of your personal financial information is shared with the online merchants, including the online casino, poker room or sportsbook that you are playing at. This significantly reduces, if not eliminates the risk of identity theft or exposure of your personal financial data. There is another perk for USA players. As we know, USA players are unable to use their credit cards in online gambling due to the restrictions placed on US banks and credit card companies. Using a casino accepting prepaid gift card bypasses this hiccup as they actually allow you to use cash to fund your online casino account and do it in a responsible manner. For all of the reasons above, prepaid debit and gift cards are rapidly becoming the online banking solution of choice.

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