People who gambled back in the early 2000s may remember that PayPal was a big player in the banking department. Using your PayPal account, you could instantly deposit money into an online casino or poker room, and some of these sites even allowed you to use PayPal for quick and cheap withdrawals. However, PayPal bowed out of this game 12 years ago, leaving e-wallets like Neteller to do the work. But the giant e-based bank has announced recently that they will again return to their position as a banking option for legal USA online gambling sites, at least in limited fashion.
The catalyst for PayPal’s new shift to an old way of life is that they’ve finally broken off with eBay. Not that their payment structures for the multinational conglomerate website are different; just that they’re no longer the same brand. Over the past few days, PayPal has been popping back up on gambling sites, including Caesars Interative WSOP Poker site. According to a spokesperson from PayPal, this is a limited test that includes four main sites. Of course, this includes sites that are actually legal for participants.
PayPal, as an independent company prior to 2003, had the legality of their banking options questioned, and after joining forces with eBay the site basically abandoned such things. Now again as an independent operator, PayPal is dipping its toes into the pool of gambling, and are seeking new ways to earn new revenue from the few US states offering legal gambling. All told, research by Morgan Stanley put the online gambling industry in the US at up to $5.2 billion in revenue by 2020, and PayPal wants a part of this.
Only residents of Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey need concern themselves with PayPal’s newer measures for right now for casino and poker gambling. However Paypal deposits are allowed for Fantasy Sports betting in most US states. But as time goes by, and assuming this “test” works out, you should be able to find PayPal as a legitimate option on a wide range of gambling websites, including many offshore sites that still cater to Americans and are thus technically legal.
Time will obviously tell the tale on just how far PayPal is willing to go. But if anyone out there remembers the days of the early 2000s, then you may remember that PayPal was the leading banking option in America via gambling for Americans. They stopped long short of the UIGEA, but that 2006 piece of legislation still acted as a primary factor for PayPal staying away for so long. But like a Soundgarden reunion, PayPal is now back in the game, having been away too long, and the gambling market is about to experience some serious change.
Don’t undersell PayPal. They are the world’s leading e-wallet, they offer debit cards and credit lines, and they’re perhaps the most secure of all e-wallets out there. Bitcoin’s excursion into online gambling made some waves; PayPal’s reemergence will create tsunamis.