Venmo

DEFINITION

Venmo was created as a way for friends to split the bill when visiting restaurants, the cinema, or a nightclub. People soon began using it for an entire range of purposes, including things the company’s creators had never even considered. It was clear that the convenience of Venmo was a hit with consumers, but the company’s owners stubbornly refused to allow retails or merchants of any kind to accept payments using the service.

This all changed after PayPal bought out the parent company behind Venmo, which enabled all merchants with the ability to accept transactions via PayPal to accept Venmo payments as well. Unfortunately, in-person purchases are still not allowed using Venmo. Some users have found a way around this using the QR code feature which was intended to be used only for splitting bills.

Venmo is a little different from other online payment services in that there is a social component to it as well. When Venmo was first released, they used Facebook’s “Log in using Facebook” feature rather than a custom login system. This was undoubtedly a deliberate decision, as whenever a user logs in via Facebook a huge amount of information is shared with the site the user is logging in to.

Payment amounts are stripped from the social feed, but if you do download the app, you can see which of your friends are sending other people money – perhaps with a picture of the food they had been sharing, or occasionally the pictures would show things which were much more dubious. Venmo has also become common nomenclature in the US for this reason too as Venmo transactions have become very common – in some instances has become more than just a way to send money as Venmo has replaced basic services that banks offer in other countries.

Here’s a reminder folks: Everything you post on the internet is there FOREVER. Even if you manage to have a message or picture removed from one specific website or app, that doesn’t mean it is gone for good!

HISTORY

The original version of Venmo was released in 2009, initially focusing on iPhone and Blackberry users. The first Samsung Galaxy S was still a year away from release, and Nokia was still trying to compete with their N97.

Google’s up-and-coming Android operating system was still in its infancy, and most of the popular devices which used it such as the Motorola Droid insisted on including a physical keyboard in addition to the touchscreen.

With the cellphone market so fragmented, Venmo’s prototypes had to use text messages to transfer payments between users. By the time the software was finished, however, Apple’s app store was taking off in a big way and Venmo founders Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail wasted no time in creating a smartphone application to facilitate their mobile payments.

The result was so impressive that in 2010, the company was able to raise over $1 million in seed money through a funding round led by RRE Ventures. Just two years later, the founders sold the company to Braintree for $26.2 million – this could be described as a major mistake in my view, considering that PayPal paid over $800 million for the company just one year later.

Paypal quickly expanded the scope of the Venmo application, allowing it to be used to make purchases from merchants for the first time. Although face-to-face transactions were technically forbidden, a survey of New York’s takeaway food industry revealed that many of such businesses were allowing customers to make payments using the QR codes intended for use when sending money between friends.

Interestingly, this practice was especially common amongst Chinese takeaways. This could have been because of the similarity between Venmo’s QR transfer service and Chinese mobile payment services such as Alipay and WeChat. QR Code usage has also increased for other in-app purchases as Venmo accounts have made this easier to do.

Most recently, PayPal announced that both Venmo and PayPal themselves would now permit customers to make purchases using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. The feature was initially rolled out to small numbers of individuals at a time, but it proved so popular that PayPal later decided to add the ability to buy, hold and sell a wide range of cryptocurrencies from within their app.

Today, PayPal is still in the process of adding these features to Venmo’s entire userbase. They previously stated that this roll-out would be completed by May 2021, so it seems likely that the vast majority of Venmo users now have access to a wide range of cryptocurrency-based features.

HOW TO DEPOSIT USING VENMO

Many casinos do not add Venmo to their list of acceptable deposit methods, however, this is a little deceiving. Provided you have a PayPal account and live in a state which has legalized online gambling, you’ll have no trouble using Venmo to deposit at any casino that accepts PayPal deposits.

If you have not signed up with Venmo yet, this should be your first port of call – creating an account is extremely fast, particularly if you use their “link with Facebook” option. If you do not use Facebook or would, understandably, prefer not to link your social media accounts to a completely unrelated payment service, you’ll have to input a few extra details to get started. There is also a widely used venmo app available on both iOS and Android, and registering through the venmo app has these same options.

Note that if you do register using Facebook, there is a strong possibility that your shopping history via Venmo will be shared with Facebook because of the link you have created between the two accounts. I don’t like the idea of this at all – I rarely use Facebook anyway but using it to access a financial service is way outside of my comfort zone. It’s up to you what you choose to do at this juncture.

Most casinos won’t offer a specific bonus for using Venmo as a deposit option unlikely traditional payments or cryptocurrency, but there are often notes in the terms and conditions that suggest Venmo does qualify for these bonuses too.

VERIFYING YOUR IDENTITY

Next, you will need to get your Venmo account verified with submitted account information. Even if you have an existing Venmo account, there is a chance you may not have completed the verification process in the past. Verification begins by sending a four-digit code to your mobile phone number, after which you need to link your bank account to Venmo to make payments and to receive money.

Venmo has an excellent system that is capable of logging into your online banking account and completing this entire procedure automatically. Once again, if you are uncomfortable with giving your online banking details to another company – and perhaps Facebook – then there is a manual option. This works the old-fashioned way by depositing a small amount into your account and then asking you to verify the reference shown on your statement. Depending on your bank, these financial transactions may appear immediately, or you might have to wait a day or two for the reference to become visible in your online banking.

Once verified, Venmo users can log into their account at any time to view their venmo balance and use any of the features – whether this is adding funds to their venmo balance from a linked bank account or making payments to other services.

MAKING YOUR FIRST DEPOSIT USING VENMO

With everything set up and your account verified, making a deposit as a venmo user should be quick and easy. One thing that I found surprising was that you can make a deposit to an online casino and have the funds available for play instantly, however, if you just want to add some money to your Venmo account for whatever reason the deposit can take several days. I went back and had another look at this, and it turns out that I didn’t notice I had chosen to pay 1% for an instant deposit when adding money to my casino balance, but I failed to spot this option when trying to simply add money to my Venmo account or to transfer funds. 1% is quite reasonable for an instant transfer compared to some of the other deposit options available to US players, and of course, you can always choose to wait 2-3 business days instead if you would rather not pay the 1% transaction fee for fund transactions.

HOW TO MAKE A WITHDRAWAL USING VENMO

With a fully verified Venmo account, making a withdrawal from an online casino is extremely fast and very straightforward. The same 1% fee is an option when making withdrawals too, so if you want to get your hands on your winnings straight away then this option might be acceptable to you.

For me, the problem is that not only do you have to pay 1% when withdrawing from the casino to Venmo, you then have to pay another 1% when transferring your funds to your linked bank account, if you aren’t willing to wait several days. With 1% fees charged at each step of both depositing and withdrawing, you are looking at a total of 4% charge to your venmo balance if you choose the instant option at every stage of the process.

If you are depositing substantial amounts of money, you’ll be pleased to know that Venmo does cap their 1% fee at 10$. Unfortunately, a 10$ cap means that you will need to be depositing and withdrawing amounts over $1,000 before it saves you any money. It is unlikely that the majority of players will be depositing amounts as high as this, which makes the cap all but worthless for all but those with extremely deep pockets, and this could also raise flags with the connected bank account and make it more difficult to send money.

If you can afford to deposit $1,000 at an online casino then you are unlikely to be bothered by the prospect of paying $40 for the privilege of not having to wait either to play or spend your winnings, particularly when paying to transfer money quickly to receive the necessary funds.

VENMO MASTERCARD

Whilst Venmo is not a traditional e-wallet, they have followed in the footsteps of companies such as Skrill and Neteller by offering a debit card Mastercard linked to your Venmo balance. Venmo is currently quite generous with this feature and will send you a card for free upon request. If your card is lost or stolen, Venmo will not charge you to order a replacement debit card either.

You can withdraw cash from your Venmo card if you wish, although a fee of $2.50 will be charged if the machine is not part of the MoneyPass network. You can find your nearest MoneyPass ATM secure locations at www.moneypass.com, and if you are fortunate enough to have one of these machines nearby you can access the cash in your Venmo account without paying a cent.

If there is no ATM nearby, the Venmo Mastercard supports over-the-counter cash withdrawals too. Any withdrawal made in this way will be subject to a $3.00 charge.

Topping up your Venmo card using your bank account is completely free of charge and can help to avoid unauthorized transactions. An additional feature that I could imagine finding useful is the ability to split payments across multiple debit card or credit cards – something that the Point-of-Sale terminals in most shops are unable to provide.

By setting a default payment method in the Venmo app, you will be able to make purchases that exceed the balance of your Venmo account. You can choose another debit or credit card as your backup funding source, or even your bank account. If your balance is insufficient to complete your purchase at the checkout, Venmo will automatically use funds from your backup funding source to make up the difference. This is an excellent feature and one that I wish was more common amongst e-wallet providers and companies who offer pre-paid Debit cards.

VENMO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT IS VENMO?

Venmo is a New York-based mobile payments provider owned by PayPal that allows customers to send and receive money – Venmo links directly to a bank account and also provides users with a debit card or credit card to use.

CAN I MAKE DEPOSITS AND WITHDRAWALS AT A VENMO CASINO?

Although there are not many Venmo casinos at present, you’ll find that many online casinos that accept PayPal may also accept Venmo. Online operators that accepts mastercard and other payment options are also increasingly allowing Venmo as a payment option too.

HOW DO I DEPOSIT TO A VENMO CASINO?

You must download a Venmo mobile app, open an account, verify your identity and link your credit or debit card to your Venmo account first. Navigate to your online casino’s cashier section, choose Venmo and follow the on-screen instructions. These deposits are easily made from android devices and apple devices alike.

ARE VENMO WITHDRAWALS FROM AN ONLINE CASINO FREE?

Venmo casinos charge a 1% withdrawal fee to cash out money from your player account.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO WITHDRAW FUNDS FROM A PLAYER ACCOUNT USING VENMO?

After the online casino has processed your withdrawal request, a withdrawal takes between one and three business days to reach you.

CAN I GET AN ONLINE CASINO BONUS FOR VENMO DEPOSITS?

Most US players that deposit to a Venmo qualify for the same bonuses as other deposit methods. Check the casino bonus terms and conditions to be sure.