Today, making a deposit in a poker room is as easy as purchasing something online. You can use VISA/Mastercard, various payment systems (for example, Skrill, Neteller or Webmoney), and even Bitcoins in the most progressive poker rooms.
However, in October 2018, many Russians encountered unexpected problems. Transactions to poker rooms were blocked by Russian banks with reference to the Federal Law No. 244, according to which payments in favor of gambling sites are prohibited.
Discussion of ways to solve the problem was one of the main topics at poker forums at the end of 2018. It turned out that the simplest option is to use two famous payment systems – Skrill + Neteller. We will give detailed instructions on how to make a deposit/cashout via Skrill + Neteller at the end of this article, but first let’s take a look at the features of these payment systems.
VIP Silver statuses in Skrill/Neteller. Why do you need them?
The benefits of VIP Silver status in Skrill and Neteller are a bit different.
Benefits of VIP Silver status in Skrill
- Ability to open 1 additional account in another currency;
- free issue of the Skrill Prepaid Mastercard (for SEPA countries only), increased withdrawal limit at ATMs (€1500/day instead of €900/day), no fees for withdrawals at ATMs (the usual fee is 1,75%), increased limit on purchases (€3000/day instead of €1000/day);
- no fees for withdrawals from Skrill to VISA (the usual fee is 7,5%) and bank account (the usual fee is €5,5);
- reduced currency exchange fee (2,89% instead of 3,99%);
- no fees for the transfer of funds between Skrill accounts (the usual fee is 1,45%, but not less than €0,5).
Benefits of VIP Silver status in Neteller
- Ability to open 1 additional account in another currency;
- free issue of the Net+Prepaid Mastercard (for SEPA countries only);
- no fees for the transfer of funds between Neteller accounts (the usual fee is 1,45%, but not less than €0,5);
- reduced currency exchange fee (3,19% instead of 3,99%).
VIP Silver statuses in Skrill/Neteller. How to get them?
Skrill has regular verified accounts and 4 VIP statuses (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond).
To get a VIP status you need to make transactions for a certain amount during the quarter. For example:
Bronze – from €6 000 per quarter;
Silver – from €15 000 per quarter.
Neteller has regular verified accounts and 5 VIP statuses (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond). To get a VIP status you need to make transactions for a certain amount during the calendar year. For example:
Bronze – from $10 000 per calendar year;
Silver – from $50 000 per calendar year.
As you can see, even for the VIP Silver status, the required amount of transactions is not that small.
VIP Silver for PokerProDeals players
When you open a new Skrill/Neteller account under the PokerProDeals affiliate program, you can get the VIP Silver status for free.
There are no requirements for deposits, transactions or anything else. You just create a new account, verify it (send the necessary documents) and get the VIP Silver status until the end of 2019.
If you already have a Skrill/Neteller account – don’t worry. Just contact us and we’ll see what we can do for you.
How to make a deposit/cashout via Skrill + Neteller
When depositing to your Skrill account, you have to specify for what purposes these funds will be used: gambling or non- gambling.
After the Federal Law #244 came into effect on the territory of the Russian Federation, Russian banks began to reject transactions if it was specified that the funds will be used for «gambling purposes».
However, if you specify that the funds will be used «for non- gambling purposes», then you won’t be able to deposit them to a poker room.
In order to solve this problem you will need accounts both in Skrill and Neteller.
Here is the algorithm.
- Open a Skrill account under the PokerProDeals affiliate program. You will use it for «non-gambling purposes»;
- Open a Neteller account under the PokerProDeals affiliate program. You will use it for deposits/cashouts to poker rooms;
- Make a deposit to your Skrill account via VISA (specify, that the funds will be used «for non- gambling purposes»);
- Transfer these funds from Skrill to Neteller;
- Make a deposit from Neteller to a poker room.
In order to make a cashout you need to do the same steps in the reverse order.
Here are Skrill fees for the most frequent transactions.
| Fee Type | Regular Account | VIP Silver |
| deposit to Skrill from VISA | 1% | 1% |
| withdrawal from Skrill to VISA | 7,5% | 0% |
| withdrawal from Skrill to bank account | €5,5 | 0 |
Summary
New laws can certainly complicate the lives of poker rooms and their clients, but they can’t prevent people from seeking entertainment. A little more than 3 months ago, the easiest deposit method – VISA/Mastercard – became unavailable. However, alternative methods were invented pretty quickly, and they still work.
PokerProDeals offers you to get the VIP Silver for free until the end of 2019 and forget about problems with deposits/ cashouts.