PayID vs alternatives: comparing pokies payment methods

Why the payment method is a separate question from legality

Every method on this page can move money to an offshore pokies site with varying speed and privacy. None of them changes whether that site holds an Australian licence, because none exists for online pokies regardless of how the deposit arrives; that separate question is covered in full on our legal status page. This page stays narrowly on the payment mechanics: how fast each method moves, what it exposes to the receiving site, what it costs, and which options Australian law has ruled out entirely.

What changed the field since 2024

Two rule changes narrowed the field considerably. Credit cards and digital currency were banned outright for online wagering in Australia from 11 June 2024, removing two options that used to sit alongside debit cards and bank transfers. Separately, POLi closed permanently in 2022, removing a once-common bank-redirect method years before the credit and crypto ban arrived. What remains is a shorter list than existed even five years ago, which is part of why PayID has become the default rather than one option among many.

PayID: the current default, recapped

PayID lets one Australian bank account pay another using a mobile number, email address or ABN instead of a BSB and account number, running on the New Payments Platform since February 2018. Transfers typically settle in under 60 seconds, the banking app shows the registered payee name before you confirm, and no card number or account details are shared with the receiving site at any point. It costs nothing to send from most banks and requires no new account beyond registering the identifier itself. Official detail on how it works is published at payid.com.au.

Where PayID falls short

PayID has no built-in dispute mechanism of its own beyond whatever your bank offers for a mistaken or fraudulent transfer, and once a payment clears, it cannot be recalled the way a card chargeback sometimes can. It also depends entirely on the receiving business registering a PayID at all; not every payee does, which is why it sits alongside rather than replaces every other method on this page.

PayTo: the newer NPP service

PayTo is a more recent service built on the same New Payments Platform as PayID, but it solves a different problem. Instead of addressing a single, one-off payment, PayTo sets up a standing, pre-authorised agreement between your account and an approved business, letting that business initiate future payments within limits you agree to upfront, without you manually confirming each individual transfer. Payments made under a PayTo agreement settle in real time, the same way a PayID transfer does.

Why fewer pokies sites offer it than PayID

PayTo suits recurring payments, such as a subscription or a regular bill, more naturally than a one-off pokies deposit, and setting up the pre-authorised agreement takes an extra step compared with simply paying a PayID once. As of 2026 it remains far less commonly offered at pokies sites than PayID, though that may shift as more banks and businesses adopt it for everyday use. Anyone offered a PayTo agreement at a pokies site should read exactly what limits and revocation options the agreement includes before accepting, since it grants ongoing initiation rights rather than a single transfer.

How to cancel a PayTo agreement

A PayTo agreement can be viewed and revoked directly inside the paying customer's own banking app at any time, independent of whatever the receiving business's own cancellation process claims to require. This bank-side control is a meaningful safeguard that a one-off PayID transfer does not need, since there is no ongoing agreement to revoke in the first place.

POLi: why it is no longer an option

POLi was a bank-transfer payment method that worked by redirecting a customer to log into their own online banking through a POLi-branded interface to authorise a payment, without needing a card. It closed permanently in 2022. Any pokies site still listing POLi as a payment option in 2026 is displaying outdated information, and attempting to use it will simply fail.

Why the model behind POLi fell out of favour

Asking a customer to enter online banking credentials into a third-party interface, rather than their own bank's app or website directly, sat increasingly awkwardly against rising phishing risk and tightening bank security policies. Identifier-based and app-native methods such as PayID, where authorisation happens entirely inside the customer's own banking app rather than a third-party page, replaced that model rather than reforming it.

Debit cards

A debit card draws directly from an existing bank account balance, the same as PayID in that sense, but it moves through a card network rather than the NPP and shares a card number, expiry date and CVC with the receiving site. It remains legal for online wagering in Australia, unlike a credit card, which has been banned outright since 11 June 2024 alongside cryptocurrency.

Speed and fee differences from PayID

A debit card payment often authorises instantly at the point of sale but can take a business day or two to fully clear and settle between banks, compared with PayID's typical sub-60-second full settlement. Some receiving sites pass on a card-processing fee that a PayID transfer does not carry, since card networks charge merchants a percentage per transaction where NPP transfers generally do not.

The card-detail exposure PayID avoids

Sharing a card number with an offshore site carries a different kind of exposure than sharing a PayID identifier: a compromised card number can potentially be used elsewhere until it is cancelled and reissued, whereas a PayID identifier, being just a mobile number, email or ABN, does not function as a spendable credential on its own.

Prepaid cards and vouchers

A prepaid card or voucher is purchased with cash or an existing card, loaded with a fixed value, and then used to fund a deposit without ever exposing a bank account or ongoing card number to the receiving site. It settles instantly from the site's perspective, since the funds were already loaded before the deposit was attempted.

What a voucher trades away

Buying a voucher typically strips out any bank-side safeguard entirely: no name-check, no gambling-transaction block, no self-set transfer limit, because the bank's involvement effectively ends at the point the voucher was purchased. It can also carry purchase fees or expiry conditions that a bank transfer never would. Anyone relying on a bank's gambling block or a self-set limit, covered on our safe and responsible play page, should note that a voucher purchased for cash sits entirely outside those controls.

Cryptocurrency: banned, not just discouraged

Digital currency was banned for online wagering in Australia under the same 2023 legislation that banned credit cards, with the ban taking effect on 11 June 2024 and penalties for a breaching provider running as high as $234,750 per contravention. This is a flat prohibition on the payment method for this specific use, not a caution or a discouraged-but-legal grey area.

Why crypto was singled out alongside credit

Regulators pointed to two features of cryptocurrency that made it a particular concern for gambling harm: sharp value swings that can turn a fixed-value deposit into an unpredictable amount, and weaker built-in anti-money-laundering visibility compared with the regulated banking system, making transactions harder to trace, block or reverse than an equivalent bank transfer.

Plain bank transfer using BSB and account number

Before PayID existed, sending money between Australian bank accounts meant entering a BSB and account number directly, and that option still works exactly as it always has. It remains legal and free from most banks, but it is slower than PayID in most cases, often clearing same-day or by the next business day rather than in under a minute, and it lacks the payee name-check PayID shows before confirming a payment.

The risk a name-check removes

Without a name-check, a single mistyped digit in a BSB or account number can send a deposit to a stranger's account with no automatic warning before the transfer completes, a mistake PayID's confirmation screen is specifically designed to catch before it happens. For that reason alone, a plain bank transfer is usually the weaker choice between the two whenever a receiving site publishes a PayID as an alternative.

Side-by-side comparison

The table below sets out how the seven methods compare on the dimensions that matter most for a pokies deposit: speed, what it exposes to the site, ongoing cost, and current legal status for online wagering in Australia.

A worked example: the same deposit, three ways

Say a player wants to fund a $320 deposit and compares three of the options above. Sent by PayID, the transfer clears in roughly 25 seconds, the banking app shows the receiving business's registered name first, and no card details leave the player's phone. Sent by debit card, the $320 authorises instantly at the cashier but does not fully clear and settle between banks for a day or two, and the site now holds the card's number and expiry date on file for any future charge. Sent by a $320 prepaid voucher bought with cash at a retail outlet, the deposit lands the moment the voucher code is entered, but the purchase leaves no bank-side trail at all, meaning no self-set transfer limit or gambling block from section six of our safe and responsible play page ever had a chance to apply.

All three move the same $320 to the same site with the same licensing status once it arrives. What differs is speed, what the receiving site now holds on file, and whether any bank-side safeguard had a chance to see the transaction at all before the money was gone.

Frequently asked questions