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Wallet Desk / The fees
What each hop costs
The cost of the extra hop
Fees at a wallet are charged on the movement of money rather than on a stake, so they are paid whether the stake wins or loses. That is the arithmetic of the seam, and it is small enough per hop to be missed and large enough to matter over a month.
Account stub
- Top-up fee
- 1.50 on 100.00 funded
- Withdrawal fee
- 1.42 on 94.56 sent back
- Wallet total
- 2.92 on the round trip
- Game total
- 3.94 at a 96% return on 98.50
- Round trip
- 6.86 against 4.00 paid directly
the seamOne hop from one ledger to another, each with its own terms and its own fee
the wallet balanceA claim on the wallet, safeguarded and not deposit-insured
the round trip6.86 through a wallet against 4.00 direct, on one sample account
Direct answerA wallet typically charges a fee to take money in, a fee to send it out, a retained spread on any conversion, and a monthly fee once a balance is left untouched. On the sample account the two transfer fees cost 2.92 on a 100.00 round trip, against 3.94 taken by the game at a 96% return.
youyour bank account
1.50the wallet's top-up fee on 100.00
the walleta balance that is a claim on the wallet
0.00the operator credits what arrives, and charges no deposit fee here
the operatora balance that is a claim on the operator
1.42the wallet's withdrawal fee on 94.56 coming back
your bank93.14 arrives, against 100.00 sent
Fee 1 the top-up fee, charged on money entering the walletFee 2 the withdrawal fee, charged on money leaving itFee 3 the conversion spread, charged only when currencies differFee 4 the inactivity fee, charged on a balance nobody touchesWho pays you - the operator cannot absorb a fee charged before the money arrives
The four charges, and who levies each one
fee 01The top-up fee is charged before the operator sees anything
The first fee is taken between your bank and the wallet. It therefore reduces what the operator
receives, and it is invisible in the operator’s cashier: the cashier shows what arrived, not what
left. A reader who checks their stake against their bank statement will find a gap and read it
as a discrepancy.
fee 02The withdrawal fee is charged on the way back
The second fee is charged on money leaving the wallet, so it is levied on a smaller sum than the
first one - which is why the two fees are never equal even at the same rate. On the sample
account the rate is identical at 1.50% and the amounts are 1.50 and 1.42, because the base
changed from 100.00 to 94.56 after a 96% return.
fee 03The inactivity fee is charged on nothing happening
The fourth fee is unusual and worth understanding: a monthly charge on an account with no
activity. It is not a penalty for playing; it is a cost of custody on a dormant balance. Its
arithmetic is the only one on this desk where the balance falls towards zero with no stake
placed, which is why it gets its own worked example on
the closure page.
The round trip, worked on one 100.00 deposit
The round trip, both routes, on the same 100.00
THROUGH A WALLET
funded 100.00
less top-up fee at 1.50% -1.50
credited to the wallet 98.50
deposited and staked 98.50
returned at 96% 98.50 x 0.96 = 94.56
withdrawn to the wallet 94.56
less withdrawal fee at 1.50% -1.42 (94.56 x 0.015 = 1.4184)
received back 93.14
total cost 100.00 - 93.14 = 6.86
of which the game took 98.50 x 0.04 = 3.94
of which the wallet took 2.92
DIRECT FROM A BANK ACCOUNT
funded 100.00
staked 100.00
returned at 96% 96.00
withdrawn at no charge 96.00
total cost 100.00 - 96.00 = 4.00
the extra hop costs 6.86 - 4.00 = 2.92
as a share of the deposit 2.92 / 100.00 = 2.92%
- Add the two wallet fees to see what the seam costs before any game has been played.
- Compare that with the return the game itself takes, which on a 96% return is 4% of what is staked.
- Note the base of each fee: the top-up fee is charged on the larger sum, the withdrawal fee on the smaller one.
- Check whether the operator absorbs its own deposit fee. It cannot absorb a fee taken before the money reaches it.
- Convert the total into a monthly figure rather than a per-deposit one, because a wallet charges per movement, not per session.
charged per movement paid whether the stake wins or loses two transfer fees the inactivity fee
The one-sentence version. A game’s margin is paid on a stake; a wallet’s fee is paid on a transfer. On the sample account the transfer costs 2.92 regardless of the result of the game, and the game costs 3.94 when it returns 96%.