Klarna Casinos

Klarna is a fintech brand established in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2005, specifically for use in online shopping. Over time, the company spread its services to making casino payments as well.

However, you should know that Klarna was not specifically created for gambling; not every casino accepts it as a payment method, and there are no gambling-related programs or responsible gambling tools, unlike Neteller, for example. Besides, Klarna is mostly not accepted for withdrawals. Even its most popular feature, "Pay after delivery," cannot be used for gambling purposes. However, you can still make gambling transactions via Klarna (in case you avoid using the BNPL services of the company).

There are some attractive features for gamblers: the company offers its customers the chance to try their one-time-use virtual card, which can help them control spending, and Klarna payments are instant, but keep in mind that a casino's processing time may vary. Plus, Klarna implements no fees for depositing and withdrawing funds.

Klarna has become one of Europe’s largest online banks, providing fast casino payment solutions to more than 150 million consumers across 45 countries. In 2014, Klarna acquired Sofort, and at that same time, Klarna Group was created. Currently, it handles about two million daily transactions and accounts for approximately 10% of the e-commerce market share in Northern Europe.

Klarna's fees are one of its advantages, and they appeal to customers extremely. The company doesn't impose any fees at all on casino transactions. Yes, you heard it right: depositing online casinos via Klarna is free. What's more, there are no annual payments, maintenance fees, etc. The only exception for it is fees for late payments. But these are only for customers who use BNPL services, which are, once again, not available for gambling.

However, keep in mind that a casino often imposes its own fees, which you can read about on the Terms & Conditions page of the gambling site.

The verification process is usually one of the steps that takes people some time to complete, and Klarna is no exception. At the company's website, you can find information that to pass the verification process, Klarna will send you an SMS to confirm your phone number, a verification code to your email address to confirm your email, and ask you to log into your bank to verify your identity.

Also, you will be obligated to complete the KYC procedure by uploading your ID, passport, or driver's license (make sure they are current and valid) and a selfie holding it. To confirm your residential address, you will be asked to provide your utility bill or a bank statement that is no older than 90 days.

Note that all the photos must be bright and clear to make the verification process seamless.

However, Klarna does not require you to make an account to use direct banking services (Pay now). Verification is needed in order to get full access to all the functions of the payment method, including BNPL.

Theoretically, Klarna's customer service is fine: they offer phone, chat, and email support. However, as you know from the About Us page, checking other users' reviews is an integral part of our research routine. This way, the BetPokies team learned that customer support is a big part of complaints.

A common situation for Klarna's support team is ignoring customer issues. We have found many reviews with similar stories: "I cancelled my order, but Klarna still requests me to pay. Customer support gives general advice without actual professional help". There is a Trustpilot post where a person got into a situation where they were forced to pay out a debt they didn't request. As we can see on the Trustpilot site, tKlartna has not responded since the day the complaint was posted.

Regarding depositing time, Klarna does a good job. When using it as a depositing method at online casinos, you can expect the transaction to be instant. Problems might appear on the casino's end, as gambling sites sometimes take more to accept payments.

Klarna's payments are considered convenient and secure. However, it takes 2-3 business days to pay out money from Klarna. Also, don't forget that casino withdrawals via Klarna are mostly unaccepted.

The minimum deposit amount you can send into your Klarna account is about $10. The maximum you can fund your account at once is $5,000. Even though Klarna doesn't specify the minimum deposit amount, on average, it varies from $10 to $20. The maximum you can withdraw from your account at once is $5,000.

As you already know, no online gambling site can be funded using the BNPL services of Klarna or any other brand. You may have read on BetPokies' Gambling Laws page that the use of credit cards at online casinos in Australia is prohibited. This is because problematic gamblers might be unable to stop on time and keep chasing losses to the point that they can't repay them. The same reason is behind the fact that "Buy Now Pay Later" services are not used for gambling.

However, while Klarna was not originally designed for gambling, it can still be used at some online casinos. The process of depositing is simple, following classic instructions:

In case you don't see Klarna among payment options when making a deposit, contact customer support service. They might turn on this option for you manually or let you know that there are conditions under which you can use Klarna at the casino (making deposits of a certain amount, completing KYC, etc.)

Klarna allows users to create a one-time-use virtual card. If you want to have better spending control and privacy of your bank details, you can create a virtual card and use it for deposits (but not withdrawals). The virtual card works like any other credit or debit card, the difference is that it can only be used once. Be careful, as Klarna's virtual card is valid only for 24 hours. However, if there is some amount left, or you haven't used the card at all, the money can be refunded on the Purchase page of the brand.

Here is a quick instruction on how to create the card: in the Klarna app, select Home and navigate to the One-time card option (it is located at the top of your screen), set the spending amount, and link the virtual card to your credit or debit card.

Note that gambling sites might not accept the virtual card. Therefore, always check it before trying to use it. If nothing is said about it in the Payment/Banking section of the website, contact customer support.

Klarna and SOFORT are often mistakenly considered the same payment method, though this is not true. As mentioned previously, Klarna acquired SOFORT in 2014, and the Klarna Group was formed. However, both brands operate independently and offer separate banking services. Sofort Direct Banking is an online banking/bank transfer payment method that allows users to make fast direct payments from their bank account to merchants (the brand doesn't provide BNPL services.). Also, one of the advantages is that, unlike Klarna, Sofort doesn't make any credit history checks to approve your payments.

Overall, licensed payment methods have pretty similar security features, such as SSL and TLS encryptions, 2FA, etc. Therefore, it doesn't make much sense to describe all of them.

Instead, we would like to share a data breach case that happened to Klarna not so long ago. At the end of May 2021, Klarna started getting numerous customer reports about weird things happening, like the X (Twitter) post attached. Users were complaining that when they attempted to log in to their accounts, they accidentally entered the accounts of other people.

Klarna temporarily closed users' accounts and opened an investigation. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski assured consumers that there were no outside hacker attacks, but an IT problem within the company itself. This "IT error" resulted in the personal information (including names, phone numbers, emails, and card numbers) of more than 9,000 customers being at risk of being exposed. However, the CEO of Klarna also noted that none of the obfuscated bank details were in danger.

If you want to ensure that your data has never been stolen (from Klarna or any other sources), go to the haveibeenpwned.com, enter your email, and see the results.

We are reaching the end of the article, so let's make some conclusions and highlight the pros and cons of the famous "Buy Now, Pay Later" European service Klarna:

If, after trying out Klarna for gambling or reading this article, you realise that this payment method is not suitable for you, we are glad to recommend other options.

Here at BetPokies, we often use crypto when trying new casino brands. This payment method is accepted in 99% of online casinos and offers fast and secure transactions. Our team of gambling experts usually prefers USDT as it is a stable coin whose value doesn’t change much.

You can also try e-wallets. There are multiple of them nowadays, but we would like to draw your attention to Neteller (we have prepared a detailed guide about it, where you can find numerous useful insights) and Sticpay. They both are gambling-focused, fast, and secure.

And old but gold — debit cards. Yes, they are pretty slow and complete transactions only in 1–3 days, but these are always trustworthy payment options.