When it comes to trusting an online casino, the first clue isn’t in the design, the games, or even the license – it’s in the payment methods. In this exclusive interview, we talked with Viktoria Soltesz, the powerhouse behind PSP Angels Group and a global authority on payments and banking structures. With over two decades of experience in high-risk finance, Viktoria has advised thousands of companies. She has also developed the Soltesz Payment Framework, founded the Soltesz Institute, and built her career solving the complex, messy, and often opaque puzzles behind international payments.
In this conversation, Viktoria explains how payment methods act as digital fingerprints – revealing whether a casino is operating within regulated frameworks or hiding behind crypto and anonymity. Here, Viktoria will show you how to read between the payment lines and protect both your money and your mental health.
How Can You Tell if You Can Trust a Casino – Just by Seeing Its Payment Methods
When you deposit money into an online casino, you’re not just sending funds to a website – you’re entering into a financial relationship with a business that may be registered, licensed, or regulated in a completely different part of the world than where you are. In most cases, you have no clear visibility into who the actual owners are, which jurisdiction supervises them, or whether they are operating under any formal regulatory oversight. This is exactly why the payment methods they offer matter. They are often the only window you have into the casino’s real-world legitimacy and to see if your funds and your game are safe.
If a casino is using major card schemes, established bank transfers, or reputable payment service providers, that is not a coincidence. Big financial providers and banks are licensed, heavily monitored, and carry their own risk procedures. If a casino passes their due diligence, it suggests that someone has verified who they are, how they operate, and whether they meet basic compliance requirements. A solid payment setup does not guarantee that everything is perfect, but it shows that the business is working within known, regulated financial rails and they follow the rules as they should. In contrast, if a casino only offers crypto deposits, an unknown or shady-looking checkout experience, or other unheard-of options, this should be treated as a clear warning sign.
Local Payment Methods Reflect How Well They Understand Your Market
A legitimate operator that values your business will not ask you to use foreign or inconvenient methods to deposit funds. If a casino is properly structured, it will do everything to offer the methods that are standard in your country and convenient for your local customs. That means local bank transfers, local card acquiring, or popular regional wallet or open banking options should all be in place. When these are missing, it doesn’t just create a poor user experience – it often means the operator hasn’t built the infrastructure needed to legally or efficiently serve your market. That could be due to licensing restrictions, failed onboarding with payment providers, or simply because they are not taking the time to understand the jurisdiction they’re targeting. Either way, the message is clear: if they are not aligned with local financial habits, they are not serious about the safety of your gambling addiction, do clean business, or they might be risking your funds.
Payment Methods Reflect More Than Just Convenience – They Reflect Financial Structure
Every payment method sits on top of a larger banking and compliance framework. If the operator has a clean legal structure, verified games, proper licensing, and clear gambling addiction measures in place, then licensed payment providers will usually support them even though they belong to the high-risk category from a banking and payment perspective. But if any part of that structure is missing – if there’s uncertainty about the legitimacy or if the games are fair and within the limits of the addiction measures – then no one will take such a risk. In these cases, the business either operates with limited financial options or moves into offshore, grey-market, or crypto-only processing. These setups might look convenient, but they often mean that your money is flowing through unregulated providers with no consumer protection and no obligation to complete your withdrawal.
Crypto Payment Methods: Speed, Anonymity, and Serious Structural Risks
Crypto payments offer undeniable benefits. They allow fast, low-cost transactions across borders, with no involvement from traditional banks or card schemes. For users in regions with restricted banking access or unstable currencies, crypto can appear as a practical alternative.
It also appeals to those who value privacy, as crypto payments are not tied to personal financial accounts in the same way traditional methods are. For casinos, the appeal is even stronger – crypto does not require formal onboarding with a licensed bank or payment institution, and transactions are irreversible, which eliminates chargeback risks.
However, these same characteristics also present serious red flags. A casino that only offers crypto deposits should immediately raise concerns. In most cases, this is not a strategic decision – it is a result of being excluded from traditional payment and banking services. While there are several trustworthy crypto casinos out there indeed, a casino that only accepts crypto may be doing so precisely because it could not qualify for banking or card processing through a licensed provider. In that case, your game might be rigged and your payouts, or even your mental health, may be at risk.
The absence of oversight means there is no protection if something goes wrong. Delayed withdrawals, incorrect balances, rigged games, or missing payouts cannot be challenged, and there is no institution legally responsible for correcting the situation. The speed and convenience of crypto may seem attractive, but they come at the cost of losing all the consumer protections that traditional financial rails are built to provide.
Why Understanding Payment and Banking Structures Now Matters at a Personal Level
There is no longer any excuse for consumers to remain unaware of how financial structures work. Whether you are playing in an online casino, sending money abroad, or investing in a business, the way money moves should be understood – not guessed. Understanding how banks think, how payment providers accept or reject businesses and fund transfers, and how risk is assessed is no longer a specialist skill. It has become a basic requirement in a world where most services are digital and most financial interactions are cross-border. This knowledge is especially critical in high-risk sectors like gaming, where the risks of delayed payouts, frozen balances, or failed withdrawals are often directly linked to weak payment structures.
Where to Look for More Information
This is exactly why I wrote “Moving Money – How Banks Think” – to explain, in practical terms, how money flows, how decisions are made inside banks, and how payment structures are built or rejected. The book is not theory. It’s built from real-world cases across multiple industries and jurisdictions.
The Soltesz Institute was created with the same purpose: to offer structured, EU-accredited education for those who need to understand how money moves internationally. Working with over 3,000 companies worldwide, I have seen that the ones who manage payment and banking tasks are not adequately trained to do so. Key areas, such as how payments and banking affect technology, UX, compliance, and other essential aspects in a business, are absent from accounting, economics courses, and MBAs. Management often struggles to make informed decisions about international money transfers, banking compliance, and due diligence on various financial providers as they lack the necessary training and knowledge. Setting the industry standard is essential, and our mission is to offer globally recognized Payment and Banking Certification.
Summary
Whether you’re a business owner, product manager, compliance officer, or simply someone who interacts with digital payments regularly, this knowledge helps you reduce risk, ask the right questions, and protect your money. Without this understanding, you are always reacting. With it, you can see the warning signs before the problem appears.
Vladimir Janevski 
Content Manager
Vladimir Janevski has a rich five-year experience as a prominent figure in the casino industry journalism. As a dedicated content writer and casino enthusiast, he brings a wealth of expertise and has proven to be an invaluable asset to the CasinoBankingMethods.com team. His in-depth knowledge, analytical skills, and great understanding of the gambling world make him an exceptional team member. Through his work, he has become a trusted source of information, consistently delivering quality content to the audience.
