Make Deposits & Withdrawals at 5Dimes Using Bitcoin
Are you tired of credit card declines? What about waiting weeks for a check to cash – how do you feel about that? You hate it. We all do.
Well, I have good news for you. If you’re a 5Dimes customer those sorts of headaches can be things of the past. 5Dimes has announced that they now offer bitcoin as a payment method.
5Dimes is a highly reputable sportsbook, receiving top marks (A or better) from reputable review portals. They specialize in betting and are known for their reduced juice promotions. They offer casino, live dealer and poker games, too.
What’s more is they accept US players from all states. For the longest time they couldn’t take players from Washington State (or others) due to payment processing issues. Within the last 18-24 months that changed; players from these areas were greeted with a message when they logged in that said they could now use Visa to fund their accounts. This was all thanks to better and more reliable processors. But like I said, that’s not an issue anymore if you invest in, or are willing to buy, bitcoin.
5Dimes sums up bitcoin the best:
Bitcoins (BTC) are a form of digital public money; in essence, electricity converted into long strings of code that have money value.
Bitcoin has exploded in popularity the past couple of years. In value too. A couple of years ago you could pick up a bitcoin for less than $30 each. As of today (9/19/2014) you can’t pick it up for less than $400.
The best part is that they work somewhat like cash when using them online. You buy them, store them in online ‘wallets,’ and transfer them whenever you want to pay for something. That includes gambling.
Gamblers like using bitcoin because you can use them for both deposits and withdrawals, and often times you can get withdrawals in as fast as 15 minutes. That leaves other (US-friendly) methods like money and wire transfers in the dust.
5Dimes’ system is not automated (yet), so you should expect timeframes to be a bit longer. Once you send your request to their support staff ([email protected]), it can take 1-2 hours for your funds to hit your account.
What else is unique about their setup is that bets aren’t made in bitcoin. Your deposit will be converted to dollars (USD) based on the current value listed at BitStamp.net. Deposit limits are limited to the equivalent of $100-$25,000.
Withdrawals are a bit more complicated, depending on how you’ve deposited in the past and how much of your winnings are from bitcoin (deposits). When I reached out to 5Dimes’ support, this is how they explained it:
If you EXCLUSIVELY deposited using Bitcoin, there is no limit on the amount you can request as a payout via Bitcoin.
If a player has $10,000 in his account and then makes their first Bitcoin deposit of $100 and then wants a payout, in this case they can only withdraw $100 in bitcoin, they would have to choose a different method to get the rest of the funds out. But if a player has their account at zero, and deposits $100 in Bitcoin and wins $10,000, then they would be able to withdraw the $10,000 in Bitcoin since the winnings came from the Bitcoin deposit.
Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals are converted to USD using the exchange rate at the moment the deposit or withdrawal is processed.
Keep in mind that, per 5Dimes’ terms (on their website), your ‘free’ withdrawals are limited to 1 payout every 7 days, up to $1,000. Players on Reddit complained about the bitcoin to dollar conversion, stating that it’s a hassle and that there’s no protection against bitcoin’s rise/decline in value.
But that doesn’t appear to be the case – you’ll always get the money you won back from 5Dimes, even if it means fewer/more bitcoins because the value changed. But if you win $100, you’ll get $100 back. Other players argued that too many people rely on bitcoin as a currency, when in fact it’s more or less a medium or vehicle to move money around.
Whatever your opinion, there’s one thing you can’t argue with – bitcoin is a more convenient banking method for gamblers. The fact that 5Dimes has stepped up as the first major operator to accept them makes them that much better of a sportsbook to bet at and/or join.
Sources
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2a84cc/major_sportsbook_5dimes_to_add_bitcoin_as_payment/ [2] http://www.sportsbookreview.com/sbr-news/online-sportsbook-5dimes-officially-adds-bitcoin-cashier-48311/ [3] http://www.5dimes.eu/PopUpsFromChart/bitcoin.html