A Look at How Skrill Works and its History
Electronic payments are an efficient way to make deposits and withdrawals at online casinos. They were developed toward the end of the 20th Century as a convenient and secure way of paying for things online, in circumstances where the trader or merchant and the customer are unlikely to meet, and could even be in completely different countries. In this specific case, allowing casino players to make deposits away from the traditional debit or credit card methods.
Given that the whole point of internet trading is its ability to work quickly and efficiently across international boundaries if necessary, it was vital to find an equally swift and trustworthy way to securely transfer funds between the consumer and the trader. This was achieved by several innovative entrepreneurs and innovators, with several different services quickly arriving to satisfy this demand.
While there are now dozens of different services to choose from, Skrill was one of the first to arrive on the scene in the United Kingdom. It was originally known as Moneybookers, which was first incorporated in the UK in July 2001. The launch of its new e-payment service was a great success, resulting in rapid growth and a fast uptake of its service by UK consumers eager to find a trustworthy and efficient way to pay for goods and services online.
The company underwent several financial investment injections and takeovers during its early years in order to fund this impressive growth. By 2009, it had grown so rapidly that it was estimated to have been worth around £400 million. In 2010 it was ranked by the Sunday times as the fastest growing private equity backed company in the entire United Kingdom. By 2011, it boasted 25 million customers and 120,000 different merchants including many internationally famous online brands accepted it as a method of payment.
As a result of this growth, the service was becoming known beyond the UK, and it was felt that a rebrand would help its worldwide growth. “Moneybookers” sounded old fashioned and held little appeal beyond its homeland, so the decision was taken to re-name the service “Skrill”. This rebranding was gradually introduced across the world, and was finally completed in 2013.
The process of financial re-structuring, mergers, acquisitions and takeovers didn’t stop there though. In an almost continuous process of corporate machinations, the company has changed hands several times over the years. In 2013, it was acquired by yet another private equity group, CVC Capital Partners for €600 million. Barely two years later, it was subject to yet another buy out, when Optimal Payments, the owners of Skrill’s rival payment service Neteller swooped in with a bid of over €1 billion for the company. Also in 2015, the company completed the acquisition of another rival UK based e-payment service when Ukash joined the group.
With Optimal Payments now responsible for virtually all the major electronic payments serviced based in the United Kingdom, it too underwent a re-branding. The conglomerate was re-named Paysafe Group, after the company’s renowned pre-payment card sister service Paysafecard.
But the sequence of corporate takeovers has still not ended. In a somewhat ironic move, August 2017 saw the Paysafe Group sold back to a new consortium, including previous owners of Skrill CVC capital Partners, for a fee of just under £3 billion. This is the current state of affairs at the time of writing, but no doubt further corporate machinations will be along shortly.
So, how does the service work? Skrill effectively acts as an online wallet. It is compatible with all devices, whether desktop PC or Mac, laptop, tablet or mobile. An app is available for smartphone use. There is no charge for opening an account and you can upload funds to your wallet with your debit card, credit card or direct from your bank account. You can even use cash: just buy a Paysafecard from any neighbourhood store offering the Pay Point service and upload from that. In fact, there are over a hundred different deposit methods available and you can pay with any one of over forty different currencies. All you need to set up an account is a valid e-mail address. The service is widely accepted by online casinos, including Aspire powered sites.
Recent years have seen a tightening of government regulations with regard to potential money laundering, which can make the process of verifying your account a somewhat fraught and long-winded process. This is the cause of many frosty reviews of the service on online consumer review sites such as Trust Pilot. This may be a temporary blip but it is certainly a concern at the time of writing. It may be worth checking out the current state of affairs before attempting to open a new account.
The Skrill service has certainly come a long way. Set up less than twenty years ago and originally operating only in the United Kingdom, it now has a worldwide reach, operating in over two hundred different countries across the world and in over forty alternative currencies. Both Skrill and its parent Paysafe Group are authorised by the UK Government’s Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 for the issuing of electronic money and payment instruments.