Gloucestercitynews.net (January 28, 2020)–PayPal has been a cornerstone payment method for online casino players for many years now. From its beginnings, in the early 2000s, this service has processed billions of online transactions. Of these, using the
PayPal payment method for online casinos
deposits and withdrawals account for a fair chunk.
source unsplash.com
But now as we enter a new decade it seems that PayPal is following the recent trends of other payments providers with a tightening of its rules and regulations.
What could be the possible effects of this for online casino players and what will the future shape up to be? We’ll attempt to answer these questions and more below.
H2 – German online casino payment crackdown
The early warning signs that PayPal was about to make a move towards more stringent regulations for casino players started to show in 2019. Around halfway through the year PayPal announced plans to stop supporting payments to and from online casinos in Germany from October 21, 2019.
This came after a warning was issued in June 2019 by the Lower Saxony state in Germany to an unnamed international payment processor. The warning was concerned with the payment provider being used to fund illegal online casino transactions in that region.
PayPal’s terms of service in Germany were quickly updated following the warning to say that they would not process payments for “offers that are not legal in your respective whereabouts, including some online gambling offers.”
This move reflects a wider game change regarding casino licencing in Germany. At the current moment, only the state of Schleswig-Holstein is able to offer legal gambling licences but all this is set to change.
Countrywide gambling licences will be issued in early 2020 but only on very strictly limited terms for sports betting. Given this, the future of the online casino industry in Germany looks very uncertain indeed.
H2 – Will there be a worldwide PayPal casino crackdown?
The above case from Germany is for a very specific region and payment provider but it does highlight a wider trend. For many years online casinos have been viewed by some as being the ‘wild west’ of the internet. The wider industry is making drastic moves to smarten up their image and operations which in turn affects payment providers.
Now that states, governments and even trading blocks seek to enforce ever tighter rules and regulations for the gambling industry, all involved must be seen to comply. In the case of PayPal, their actions in Germany show us that they are willing and able to play by the rules when they need to.
As a business with a reputation to maintain across continents, PayPal cannot afford to be seen to be connected with any illegal activities or wrongdoing. If doing so means pulling out of one of Europe’s big casino markets then it looks as though they will do it without fear.
H2 – How does this affect casino players?
From the point of view of casino players, it means that they might have less choice of which payment provider to use in the future. Millions of casino fans around the world rely on PayPal to process their withdrawals and deposits. Not having their service as a payments option at any casino would be a major blow.
That said, let’s not forget that tighter rules and regulations should be working in favour of online casino players. If it forces PayPal and other payments providers to up their game then it is a good thing. In turn, this creates a safer and more secure playing environment which can be seen as a positive.