A Brief History of Boku Casinos
Mark Britto, Erich Ringewald, and Ron Hinson envisioned the concept of making digital payments with just a phone in 2008, and to this end established Boku in 2009. Over the 10 years of its operation, Boku has collaborated with the most well-known companies in the world to turn that aspiration into a worldwide reality.
Using Boku in Canada
Boku is, from a formal standpoint, a payment processor that provides "carrier billing" or "pay by phone" services. As the name suggests, "carrier billing" allows any purchases made through Boku to be redirected to your mobile phone bill, which applies to both postpaid and prepaid phone plans.
Boku is accepted by all major cell carriers in Canada, so you shouldn't have any trouble setting up payments through the service. All you'll need is your phone number and the basic contact details you need to create a Boku account, then it's off to the races with your online casino payments.
Depositing
To deposit funds to your online casino with Boku, you will need to select Boku as the payment method in the deposit page of your online casino. You will then be asked for your phone number, which serves as your Boku account number. After specifying that and the amount of your deposit, you will receive a text message confirming your deposit in a couple minutes.
Withdrawing
Since Boku operates by charging your phone bill (which by nature cannot hold any money), there is no way to withdraw funds out of your online casino account with Boku. You will need to use another payment method to do this.
Pros and Cons of Boku Casino Payments
Pros
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Simple and fast process:
The big selling point for Boku casino payments is being able to perform the entire process through just a few taps and texts on your phone, an extremely useful characteristic for fans of mobile casinos. And because transactions are processed instantly, you can get your casino deposit into your account and keep playing without skipping a beat.
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Protects banking information:
Because Boku only needs your phone number, you don’t need to have a bank account if you want to fund your online casino account in Canada through Boku. And if you do have one, you won’t need to share sensitive bank details with the casino site.
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Easy balance management
With all payments made through Boku being available in small and convenient denominations, it is easy to manage your casinos online spending by using Boku as your primary payment method.
Cons
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No withdrawals:
The nature of Boku and carrier billing means that all Boku transactions are deposit-only; as such, you will need to have a separate payment method ready to collect any funds you pull from your online casino account.
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Relatively uncommon:
Compared to the e-wallets and instant banking services that dominate the online casino payment space in terms of popularity, Boku is not quite as commonly found. That’s not to say you won’t find any, though our list of Boku casinos Canada above should be proof enough.
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Small deposit limits:
One of the major limitations of casino payments made through Boku is that they have a hard cap of C$30 per transaction. This is done mostly to limit charges on your phone bill, but it does make larger casino payments more tedious to work with.
Should you use Boku for online casino payments?
For gamblers in Canada that want to avoid connecting their bank accounts or e-wallets to their online casino accounts (for security, spending, or other reasons), Boku provides a convenient alternative that can all be done from your phone.
Depending on how you look at it, Boku's C$30 deposit limit per transaction can either be a good measure that helps curb your spending or an annoying barrier that requires you to make multiple transactions to deposit your regular funding amounts.
Our Final Thoughts
Boku casinos are arguably one of the first successful examples of retailers that accept pay by phone in Canada, and continue to stand as a bit of an anomaly among online payment methods. If you are looking for a reliable no-banking payment method that also avoids having to go outside and buy physical prepaid cards, then the convenience of Boku just might be right for you.
Boku Casinos FAQs
Is Boku available in Canada?
Yes, Boku is available in Canada but in a relatively limited capacity, especially when compared to other payment methods like instant banking.
Can I use Boku at online casinos?
Yes, you can use Boku to make deposits at online casinos; however, they are not quite as widespread in Canada and may not be available at most of the popular sites in the country.
How do I cash out with Boku?
Unfortunately, there is no way to cash out with Boku because of the way that it charges your phone bill.
