A gaming system and method for enabling financial transactions in a gaming environment are described. The gaming system includes an electronic funds transfer (EFT) terminal, a gateway and a financial network. The gateway retrieves transaction information related to a fund transfer request. The gateway can then independently determine that the fund transfer request complies with the applicable gaming limits and gaming rules. An approval message is transmitted from the gateway to the EFT terminal for compliant transactions that are approved by the financial network(s) and comply with a configurable gaming limit.