Boku

Boku is a mobile payment provider established in 2009. Its headquarters are located in San Francisco. The service offered by Boku is known as “carrier billing”, which means buying a service or sending money via mobile phone carriers. There is no need to use a credit card/bank account or any other form of payment source. Having a mobile phone and using a supported carrier (*) is enough.

The service can be used all over the world: Boku UK, for example, is available and very popular. Once the transaction is completed, the user pays the deposited amount to the carrier in installments, via the phone bill.

(*) At the time of this article, the supported carriers were O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Docomo, and TIM. Always check the current list of carriers at the official website of Boku before using this service. If your carrier is not listed, you cannot use Boku.

How to Make a Boku Deposit: A Step-By-Step Guide

Making a deposit to a Boku casino is actually pretty simple and does not require the installation of any additional software/apps.

Select “Boku” among the payment options offered by the casino.
Enter the amount you want to deposit. (Take a look at the Boku payment limits we mentioned below.)
Enter your mobile phone number. (Take a look at the carrier list we provided above. For this to work, your carrier must be one of those.)
An SMS will be sent to your mobile phone. It will be different for each country, but basically, it will ask you this: “Are you sure you want to send xxxx USD/EUR/GBP to this merchant? If you do, answer this SMS”
You need to actually write an answer to this SMS. Usually, writing “Yes” is enough to confirm the message. (The SMS will tell you what to write to confirm.)
Answering the SMS is the end of the transaction: Your deposit is already completed. Now, you can pay it in installments via your phone bill.

Note that the installment option may not be offered by all carriers. You may be asked to pay all at once with the next bill. Carriers have different practices in this regard, we advise you to ask your local carrier for more info.

How to Make a Boku Withdrawal

You cannot make a withdrawal by using Boku. This is a “pay-only” service. You cannot accept any payments. This is pretty normal actually: To use Boku, you do not need credit cards, bank accounts, or any other financial source. It is a quick and easy payment solution for this reason. However, for the same reason, withdrawals are simply not possible: You can pay by your phone bill, but the carrier won’t “pay you”. So, you can use this option only to make deposits.

Please note that we have seen some Google results that claim this is possible. It seems “Boku withdrawal” is a popular keyword and in order to appear in the results, some websites use false information. Do not trust any website/casino that claims Boku withdrawals are possible. They are not.

Advantages of Boku

No Accounts Needed. Literally, a mobile phone is all you need. Even if you do not use a credit card or have a bank account, you can still make online payments. Moreover, you don’t even need to have actual money: Your payments will be reflected in your phone bill in installments. There is no need to use a username/password, as these are not needed. As long as your mobile phone is capable of sending and receiving SMS; you can use Boku to make payments.
Instant Transactions. Deposits made via Boku are instant. As soon as you confirm the SMS, the deposit is sent to the casino and can be used immediately.
Supported By Lots of Merchants. In addition to Boku casinos, this method is supported by hundreds of merchants. Some examples are Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Spotify, and Blizzard.

Disadvantages of Boku

No Withdrawals. As explained above, you cannot use this method for withdrawals.
Limited Transactions. Boku has some strict financial limitations. You cannot deposit more than 150 EUR. In addition, you cannot deposit more than 2.500 EUR in a year (in total). This is actually normal, a mobile payment provider needs to set some limitations. However, this also makes Boku a non-suitable option for high-rollers.

FAQ

Do I Need a Bank Account To Use Boku?

No. This is a mobile payment provider, and the payments will be reflected in your phone bill. So, you do not need a bank account, but you must have a mobile phone. In addition, the carrier of your phone must be covered by Boku. If all of these are available, you can make a payment without a bank account. However, please note that the carrier may ask additional requirements such as a clean bill history to offer this service to customers.

Does Boku Have Transaction Fees?

Boku does not ask for transaction fees. However, your carrier may impose additional fees and charges for this service. Please ask your local carrier for more information about this, as it is different for every carrier.

How to Use Boku Pay by Mobile?

It is actually pretty simple. You do not need to install anything on your device. Select “Boku” among the offered options and enter your mobile phone number. If your carrier is covered, an SMS will be sent to you asking you to confirm the transaction. You need to send an answer to this SMS to confirm. After that, the payment will happen instantly.

How Safe Is Boku?

Boku is very safe since it needs some physically using a mobile device to work. In other words, even if your username/password is exposed, nobody will be able to use this service: They also need to, literally, hold your device. The problem is, if your mobile device is not protected by a password or biometric lock, anybody who has access to your phone can place an order. So, as long as you are able to protect your device, Boku is secure to use.