Most pending deposits are not lost. They sit with your bank, the payment provider or the operator. Here is how to tell which, and how long is normal for each method.
Money has left your account and the casino balance has not moved. What happens next depends almost entirely on which payment method you used, because each one fails in a different way and each one is fixed by a different party.
Most pending deposits are not lost. They are sitting in one of three places: with your bank, with the payment provider, or with the operator waiting on a check. Knowing which of the three tells you whether to wait or to act.
The Gambling Commission banned credit card gambling on 14 April 2020. The rule is that gambling businesses must not accept credit card payments for gambling. It also reaches through wallets. The Commission's own guidance says a business accepting payment from a wallet such as PayPal or Skrill should make sure the money was not loaded from a credit card.
So a declined or failed wallet deposit in Britain is often not a fault at all. It is the ban working. If your PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay balance is funded by a credit card, the deposit should fail, and it will keep failing until the funding source changes.
Apple Pay. A card in a wrapper, so the card's rules apply.
Google Pay. The same, with a different set of funding sources.
Visa or Mastercard. Check card type, bank blocks and the verification prompt.
Bank transfer. Count working days and check the payment reference.
Open banking. Check bank approval and the completed outgoing payment.
| Payment method | Usual time to credit | Where it gets stuck | Who fixes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| PoLi (New Zealand) | Near instant | Bank authorisation step | Your bank, then the operator |
| Apple Pay | Instant | The underlying card | Your card issuer |
| Google Pay | Instant | The underlying card | Your card issuer |
| PayPal | Instant | Funding source or PayPal review | PayPal, then the operator |
| Visa or Mastercard | Instant | Issuer authorisation | Your card issuer |
| Bank transfer | One to three working days | The clearing cycle | Nobody, you wait |
| PayID | Near instant | Name or ID mismatch | Your bank |
| Open banking | Near instant | The consent step | Your bank |
Timings are general guidance. The operator's published terms state the processing time for each method it offers.
No, not until you know where the first one is. Two deposits land as two deposits, and getting one of them back takes longer than waiting for the first to clear.
You can, but a chargeback against a gambling operator will usually close your account and can forfeit any balance. Exhaust the operator's complaints route first.
An hour for anything card or wallet based. Three working days for a bank transfer. Past that, put it in writing.
Verified against 2 primary sources. Last reviewed October 8, 2026.