PayPal must be one of the oldest methods for conducting online money transfers in the world. The company has its beginnings in 1998 when it was established in San Jose, California under the brand name Confinity. Four years later, PayPal launched its initial public offering and officially became a member of the eBay subsidiary family. The year 2015 saw PayPal’s completing its spin-off from eBay and becoming an independent company.
Over the course of its twenty-year long history, PayPal succeeded in establishing itself as one of most reliable and widespread digital payment solutions in the world. Today, PayPal hosts over 203 million active accounts on a global scale and services customers from 202 countries in over 20 currencies. It is largely considered one of the most trustworthy ways to perform borderless money transfers or to pay for online purchases.
The method may have originated in the USA but it holds its ground on the UK market as well, where it ranks as the most popular online payment services provider. Over 20 million Brits use PayPal for online purchases on a yearly basis. Not only is it universally accepted by online vendors in the country but has also become the preferred method of payment for an impressive number of online gamblers.
PayPal online casinos are favoured because of their high level of safety and the flexibility they provide casino players with, allowing them to conduct transfers to and from their casino accounts without the need of revealing their card or bank account details. The method is listed as a viable option in the cashier menus of hundreds of online casinos that accept action from the UK market. This basically means it won’t be long before you find a trusted gambling website to play at if you are a Brit with a PayPal account.
Online Gambling Transactions with PayPal
In its essence, PayPal is a digital wallet that offers a very straightforward service in a great variety of currencies. There is no need to even own a credit or a debit card to use it which is a big plus for many casino players. The only requirements to use it are setting up a PayPal account and topping it up. Additionally, PayPal eliminates the need of disclosing personal or financial information when initiating your payments. Continue reading as we walk you through the steps of registering, depositing and withdrawing at a PayPal casino.
Creating a PayPal Account
Select the Personal Account category from the menu
Fill in the registration form
Verify your new PayPal account by confirming your email
Connect the PayPal account to your bank account or card
Before you start using PayPal for online gambling purposes, you must set up an account and create your very own digital wallet. There are two different categories users can choose from, personal and business, but most gamblers would normally choose to set up personal accounts. You must fill in the registration form providing some of your information like name, address, date of birth, email, and mobile phone number.
Once you have finished creating your PayPal account, you should check your email’s inbox. PayPal will send you an email for confirmation and you simply need to click on the Confirm Email Address button to verify your new account. You will be then redirected to the PayPal log-in page where you are prompted to type in your new account’s password so that the payment processor can tell it is really you.
At this stage, you are presented with two options of topping up your PayPal wallet – you can link it either to your personal bank account or to your card, i.e. if you have one. If any of your account details changes at a later stage, you can update your PayPal account profile.
Topping Up an Online Gambling Account with PayPal
- Sign Up at a PayPal gambling website
Check the balance in your PayPal account
Select PayPal from the Cashier
Type in the deposit amount
Log into your PayPal account- Verify the payment
Transferring money to your gambling balance is shockingly straightforward with PayPal. Provided that you have already registered at a PayPal online casino, you would only need to scroll through its cashier menu and click on the PayPal logo.
Then, the software would prompt you to type in the amount you want to transfer to your balance along with a promo code, i.e. if you want to claim an available bonus. Once you click on the Deposit button, the cashier will redirect you to PayPal’s log-in page again, where you can access your PayPal account with your email and PayPal password. Then you verify the deposit and your chosen amount would be added to your casino balance right away.
Cashing Out Gambling Wins with PayPal
Make sure you have cleared wagering prior to requesting a withdrawal- Access the cashier and select PayPal for your withdrawal
- Enter the desired amount to withdraw and confirm
Wait for your withdrawals to be processed by the gambling operator
Pocketing your casino loot with PayPal is just as easy as depositing, albeit less time-efficient because your gambling website of choice would require some time to assess your withdrawal request and verify the transaction. This processing timeframe is different between gambling operators so it would be best for you to enquire on this when on the hunt for a PayPal casino.
As was explained in the previous section, gamblers have a chance to enter a bonus code and receive something a little extra when making a PayPal deposit. Those who have opted in for the bonus should not forget to ensure they have cleared the wagering attached to the promo offer before requesting a withdrawal with PayPal. The wagering left for you to cover is typically displayed when you access the casino account so make sure you check that. You are prohibited from withdrawing when you have pending wagering requirements to clear.
PayPal Limits, Charges and Currencies
One of the biggest strengths of using PayPal for the purpose of online gambling is that it works in many different currencies. The exact number is actually 24 but your currency is set up automatically when you create the PayPal account, on the basis on which country you are registering from. The currencies PayPal works with at the moment are as follows:
- GBP, USD, EUR, AUD, CAD, CHF, BRL, CZK, DKK, HKD, HUF, ILS, JPY, MXN, MYR, NOK, NZD, PHP, PLN, RUB, SEK, SGD, THB, and TWD
Things are a bit more complex where limits are concerned, because the maximum amounts you can transfer to your gambling balance when using PayPal vary a lot between online gambling operators. However, PayPal itself imposes limits on the amounts its customers can send or receive. The limits are initially set to only £2,500 (or the currency equivalent) per year.
These are very low, we know, but do not allow this to dissuade you from using PayPal for online gambling purposes. The low limits can be easily lifted if you verify your bank account or the card you have initially linked to your PayPal wallet. To do this, you will be asked to upload copies of some documents as a proof of identity and a proof of address. You can verify your address by sending a phone bill or a credit card statement but this should not be over a year old. Once you do this, PayPal will send you a four-digit confirmation code – you can find it on your credit card statement. Also, the limits would normally vary on the basis of what currency you use.
Now we reach the rather unpleasant topic of fees. Online gambling operators would not charge players extra for depositing or withdrawing with PayPal. There are fees on behalf of PayPal itself but if the transfers from your wallet’s balance take place within the UK, you will not be charged. However, charges apply when money is sent from other countries. The fees are set to either £1.99 or £3.99 depending on the country the money is sent to. If currency conversion is in place, you will incur additional fees. The percentage ranges between 3% and 4.50% depending on which currency the payment is converted to.
Mobile Options for Gamblers Using PayPal
Another strong point of PayPal’s is that it gives gamblers the flexibility to move funds to and from their gambling balance from any location their heart’s desire. We can hardly think of a PayPal casino that is not mobile responsive but the same can be said for PayPal’s website, which you can access from the browser of most smartphones and tablets. That being said, PayPal also offers gamblers a choice between two dedicated mobile applications, one for iOS devices and one for Android.
Both apps can be downloaded either from the official PayPal website or from the official app stores of the respective operating systems. In our opinion, the apps are more convenient to use because they give you instant access to all aspects concerning your digital wallet account. You can keep track of your PayPal activity since the applications would send you notifications each time you have deposited or received a payment from your favourite online casino.
PayPal Customer Care Service
PayPal gambling websites are known for their exceptional level of customer care. They would typically feature a live chat facility which players can use to get in touch with support representatives in cases when they need assistance or have any queries.
PayPal itself keeps abreast with the gambling operators using its payment platform by ensuring the highest levels of customer care possible. There are several avenues of getting in touch with a representative of the payment platform’s support staff. These include:
- Various international telephone lines
- A community help forum with more than 1.7 million members
- A ready-made form you can use to send messages to PayPal’s support staff
- An exhaustive FAQ index which covers a mind-blowing number of topics
PayPal as a Secure Gambling Banking Choice
PayPal would not have been where it is today if it failed to meet its customers’ expectations in terms of security. The company enjoys a rock-solid reputation worldwide for offerings utmost security and protection of its users’ funds. To begin with, PayPal has framed an adequate buyer-protection policy and is in the habit of reimbursing customers for their payments should any of the items they have purchased with their e-wallets does not coincide with what was originally ordered or fails to arrive at all.
Gamblers are unlikely to experience such issues but they, too, can have their peace of mind knowing that their funds’ safety is a major priority of PayPal’s. All transactions conveyed with PayPal are monitored around the clock, with the purpose of preventing fraudulent activities, such as identity thefts and phishing. Money transfers to and from your PayPal wallet are guarded with next-level encryption technologies which eliminate the risks of frauds. PayPal also has a dedicated security team whose members are ready to react as soon as someone alerts them of suspicious transaction activities.
Gambling Options for PayPal Users
The options you can find at PayPal gambling websites are just as varied as those offered by any other gambling operator. PayPal casinos provide gamblers with a broad selection of games that they can play either in their browsers or via a downloadable piece of software, but in many cases, both are an option. More often than not, gambling operators would offer a variety of products at one and the same website, hosting a virtual casino, a poker platform, bingo rooms, and a sportsbook. PayPal depositors would be able to access all of these sections with the same sign-in credentials.
PayPal Casinos
The choice of games is obviously a determining factor when deciding whether or not to become a member of a given PayPal casino. Players should not settle for anything short of a comprehensive range of gambling options.
Some of the PayPal casinos of the biggest repute would roll out jaw-dropping collections of slots, spanning hundreds of titles with diverse themes which cater to the needs of a larger crowd of gamblers. The progressive titles are usually the most popular ones from the slot selection, which certainly makes sense considering how enormous the jackpots tend to get.
Many PayPal casinos choose to work in partnership with a variety of software suppliers, which further contributes to the variety of slot themes and features. Advanced slots like those employing the all-ways-win format are especially loved by slot fans since here, one has a bigger chance of hitting winning combinations. The games are usually packed with cool features like free spins and additional symbols like the scatters, returning prizes in both directions and the wilds, which can be used as substitutes when you are short of winning symbols. It is virtually impossible to enumerate all slots worthy of a mention at PayPal casinos but fans would unanimously agree that Gladiator: Road to Roam, The Age of Gods, Mega Moolah, Starburst, Immortal Romance, and Mega Fortune are among the most loved titles.
Blackjack is a classic casino game that commonly appeals to gamblers due to the very low advantage it gives to the house. It is also a very popular option among registrants at PayPal casinos where it is available in a vast range of classic and less conventional variations. You can play it in single or multi-hand format, with different varieties using anywhere between one and eight decks. Apart from staples like Classic, Atlantic City, and Vegas Strip Blackjack, fans have a choice from different varieties that support side bets like Perfect Pairs, Double Attack, and Hi Lo Blackjack.
Roulette fans will be pleased with the availability of many different variants of their favourite game. All good PayPal casinos offer the usual French, American, and European version of the game, in addition to some more interesting varieties like Mini Roulette, Pinball Roulette, and 1000 Diamond Bet Roulette. A progressive version inspired by the mythology of the ancient Greeks is also available at PayPal casinos powered by Playtech.
Players also have a great choice of other classic table games like baccarat, craps, and casino poker, with broad table limits that cover both big and small budgets. All table games at PayPal casinos are designed with authenticity in mind and are precise replicas of the tables in brick-and-mortar venues, not to mention you also get the chance to play them against human dealers in the websites’ live-casino sections.
Video poker is usually represented by some of its most widespread varieties like Deuces Wild, Jacks or Better, Tens or Better, and Double Bonus Poker. Some PayPal casinos would offer the full-pay varieties of these games, enabling players to extract positive value by following perfect strategy. PayPal casinos strive to reach a broad audience of customers which is why they would also provide a range of straightforward, lottery and number games to those lacking previous experience with casino gambling. Novices can enjoy selections of scratchcards, bingo, and keno, among other instant-win games.
PayPal Sportsbooks
PayPal is widely used as a deposit method at some of the biggest sportsbooks to accept punters from the UK and Europe. Being one of the oldest online payment services providers in the world, PayPal’s brand name itself carries an unblemished reputation and its presence in online sportsbooks’ cashiers is by itself an indicator they are fully legitimate, licensed, and trustworthy. Nevertheless, you are still recommended to check the licensing of the PayPal betting sites that have attracted your interest.
When you have ensured your chosen sportsbooks are reliable and legitimate, you can start comparing what they have to offer in terms of markets, odds, and bet types. Many PayPal betting sites accepting punts from the UK attract a good deal of betting action and respectively, cover a broad range of popular sports like football, tennis, baseball, cricket, basketball, American football, boxing, and hockey. Horse and greyhound racing is commonly available.
Major UK-friendly sportsbooks using PayPal tend to offer generous odds across a variety of bet types, including straight bets, point spreads, parlays, outrights, specials, totals, and handicapping. Punters are typically treated to tasty promotional incentives starting with a nice welcome bonus, usually in the form of free bets or deposit matches. Existing customers can partake in rebates to recover some of their parlay losses.
Here it should be mentioned that the promotional terms can vary considerably between PayPal sportsbooks so it almost literary pays to check them in advance. Some essential conditions that bear consideration include the number of times you need to wager the bonus amount and the restrictions on your bets. Often punters are prohibited from making less riskier bets when they use a bonus and would have their winnings confiscated upon violating this condition.
PayPal Poker Platforms
PayPal also ranks as one of the most widespread digital wallets accepted by online poker platforms that welcome play from the United Kingdom. These websites are homes to large poker communities of players of different skill and experience levels, attracting a good deal of traffic.
They would offer a range of cash games and tournaments in formats like Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Stud with different buy-ins to match the budget of all players. Interesting formats like Speed and Twister Poker may also be available, depending on which software your poker site of choice uses. Satellites and freerolls are also hosted on a regular basis.
Additionally, PayPal players have the option to participate in the many attractive promotions hosted by PayPal poker platforms. They would enjoy super fast deposits and withdrawals along with a prompt customer support service.
PayPal Bingo Rooms
PayPal is a preferred banking method for many bingo fans and poses as a widespread option at numerous online bingo rooms. Bingo operators would provide PayPal depositors with a vast selection of bingo games but some of the most common options are played with 75, 80, or 90 balls. In addition to bingo, players also have the choice of playing a range of mini side games like slots, specialties, blackjack and roulette between or during ongoing bingo games.
Depositing at your favourite bingo website with PayPal is speedy and hassle-free, allowing you to join fellow players in a bingo room within moments after signing up and depositing. Those who deposit with PayPal are normally eligible for various welcome and reload bonuses that further enhance their chances of collecting a prize. The most reputable bingo operators for UK customers run on robust software platforms like those developed by leaders in this field such as Dragonfish and Playtech’s Virtue Fusion.
The bingo rooms utilizing this software have huge traffic of thousands of concurrent players. Bingo mavens using PayPal would be delighted by cool features like a chat facility with dedicated moderators and the auto daub functionality that allows them to play the maximum number of cards possible without having to mark off the called numbers on their own. The atmosphere in PayPal bingo rooms is always lively since the moderators would keep the conversation going and host special games in the chat for extra prizes.
How PayPal Measures Against Other Banking Methods
There are many alternative payment options for online casino players, including PayPal’s rival e-wallets Skrill, Neteller, and ecoPayz. Cards, prepaid solutions, and online banking processors are also common among depositors. Each casino banking method has its peculiarities, strong points and downsides and PayPal is not an exception so let’s see how it measures against the competition.
Anonymity Levels
Some gamblers are just not comfortable with using their card or personal bank account for the purpose of funding their online gambling activities. PayPal poses as the best option for them since one is not even required to own a card to use it. The money is transferred from the balance of their PayPal wallets and the only details you input when initiating the transaction are your email address and PayPal password. The receiver of the payment, or the online casino in this instance, has no access to any of your information. The only thing your gambling operator of choice sees is that they have received a payment from your email address.
Time-Efficiency
Apart from allowing you to manage your online casino funds completely anonymously, PayPal ranks as a highly efficient and convenient method of payment that is pretty straightforward to use. There are no complex codes you need to remember as is the case with Neteller which utilizes Account and Secure IDs. All you need to remember with PayPal is your email address and the password you yourself have selected when opening your digital wallet account.
Apart from the increased level of convenience, PayPal also offers great time-efficiency, with deposits being processed immediately to gamblers’ casino balance. Withdrawing is also speedy, with many PayPal gambling sites transferring the funds to your wallet’s balance as soon as the payment has been verified. In contrast, casino players who use cards or bank transfers usually have to wait longer to receive their profits. Of course, the exact processing timeframes for PayPal withdrawals differ so it would be better for you to check beforehand and make sure your chosen operator transfers withdrawals with this method instantly.
Currency Range
PayPal holds its ground among the competition by supporting a vast enough range of currencies. The digital wallet processes transactions in 24 different currencies, which is very beneficial for international players as it prevents them from paying additionally for currency conversion services. Few other payment methods can compete with PayPal in this respect, with the most prominent examples being Skrill and Neteller. Paysafecard, another frequently used payment solution among UK casino players, works with roughly the same number of currencies as PayPal but falls flat where cashing out is concerned since it is prepaid and therefore, unavailable for withdrawals.
Reliability Background
Unlike newer casino deposit methods that have sprung into existence in recent years, PayPal can brag about having a long history of being a secure and trusted banking solution. One of the strongest points of this method is the reimbursement it offers to customers whose purchases do not correspond to what they have originally purchased or have not arrived at all.
More importantly, many of these disputes are resolved in favour of the customers whose protection and best interests always come at first place for PayPal. Furthermore, PayPal authorises only companies with an immaculate reputation to use its payment processing services which means that if your preferred casino uses it, you can have your peace of mind knowing it is safe to play there.
Levels of Security
PayPal carries an immaculate reputation in the payment services industry when it comes to safety and this is anything but a coincidence. When one uses PayPal for the purposes of depositing and withdrawing casino funds, they can feel safe knowing their sensitive financial information is never shared with operators since they only need to provide email address and password. This is not the case when one initiates a bank transfer or uses a debit or a credit card. All transactions initiated with PayPal are protected by state-of-the-art encryptions. Moreover, PayPal itself undertakes the initiative of investigating suspicious activities. In such cases, it would sometimes limit the access to accounts to prevent fraudsters from draining them.
Fees
This is pretty much one of the few respects PayPal falls flat in when compared to some rival payment solutions. Customers are sometimes charged when sending money across borders but the amount depends on which country the money is being sent to. There are currency conversion fees as well that can reach up to 4.50% of the transferred sum. That being said, many PayPal gambling operators are more than happy to cover the cost on their end.
Availability
Finally, one of the biggest pluses of this digital wallet is that it is so widespread that there is a good chance you already hold a PayPal account or at least have probably used the method for online purchases in the past. The method is considered a great option for players from the UK, in particular, as it is accepted at a huge range of UK-friendly online casinos, sportsbooks and bingo rooms. Even if this is your first time using it, you will definitely find setting up an account is very simple and would cost you only a few minutes of your time.
Choosing a PayPal Online Gambling Operator
There are many UK-friendly gambling providers to support PayPal but this does not mean you should hurry up and register at the first website that flashes the digital wallet’s logo at its homepage. It is always best to be on the lookout for the PayPal casinos and sportsbooks that offer you the biggest value for your stay at their websites. There are several things you need to keep your eyes wide open for if you are seeking to enjoy yourself to the fullest.
One of the most crucial things to check is whether or not the operator supports both deposits and withdrawals with PayPal. Some casinos allow only for deposits to be carried out via this method but would pay out winnings with less time-efficient options like cashier cheques and bank transfers. The biggest UK-friendly casinos, however, would list it both as a deposit and a withdrawal solution.
If the casino is authorised to process payments with PayPal, this is already a good indicator for its reliability but it is never a bad idea to double check its licensing as well as who regulates it. If you see the stamp of approval of the UK Gambling Commission, you can have your peace of mind.
The next thing to enquire about has to do with the deposit and withdrawal limits the casino imposes on payments conducted with PayPal. These are usually explicitly stated either in the website’s FAQ section or in its cashier. Provided that you fail to find them there, you can always fish out additional information from the members of the support staff.
Finally, it is important for you to compare the promotional incentives between PayPal casinos as this would enable you to pick the operator offering you the tastiest sign-up bonus. The optimal alternative would be to find a casino or a sportsbook which rewards you each time you deposit with PayPal. Some operators have established a practice of awarding reload bonuses for using specific payment solutions. Thus, each time you deposit via PayPal, you may qualify for an extra 10% or even 15% in bonus credits.
FAQ
Our goal was to try and make this page as comprehensive as possible and provide readers with everything they need to know about using PayPal as a means to manage their gambling funds. But in case we have happened to omit something or you are simply seeking quick and concise information, here are some of the most frequently asked questions about PayPal gambling sites along with their answers in brief.
The short answer is yes, you need an account in order to be able to use PayPal for online casino gambling for real money. This cannot really be deemed inconvenient because setting up a PayPal account is very quick and straightforward – all you have to do is select Personal Account, provide the needed details, and open your email inbox to complete registration by clicking on the verification link PayPal has sent to you.
Do not worry over being charged for signing up an account with PayPal. Registering for the e-wallet comes at no costs for the ordinary customer since PayPal mainly generates its profits from interests, business account charges, and international payments fees.
As previously mentioned, PayPal authorises only the most trusted and reputable gambling operators to use its money transfer platform. Players from the UK have a broader range of gambling websites to choose from because all respected operators servicing customers from the country have their operations overseen by the UK Gambling Commission.
First off, you need to verify your PayPal account if you want to lift the limits restricting the amount of money you are allowed to send on an annual basis. You can read more about what this verification procedure entails in the Limits, Charges, and Currencies section. Note that weekly or monthly limits are usually enforced by the gambling operators themselves so make sure you familiarise yourself with what restrictions apply at your PayPal casino of choice before you process a deposit. The customer support staff will readily provide you with the information you need.
Yes, transactions carried out with PayPal are indeed very fast, especially when you are topping up your online casino balance, in which case you rarely have to wait more than a few seconds. The timeframes for withdrawals vary on the basis of which casino you are cashing out from. The cash-out time usually varies between 1 and 7 work days. Online gambling operators would normally inform players about how much they would have to wait until the money appears in their PayPal balance.
Sadly, no. PayPal regulates the use of its services for gambling purposes very strictly and has a separate clause in its Buyer Protection policy which excludes transactions that involve gambling and any similar activities where prizes can be won on the basis of chance.
PayPal may be used in more than 200 jurisdictions but cannot be used for the purposes of online gambling in all of those. At the present moment, only players and punters residing in the UK, Sweden, Ireland, Portugal, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, and Austria can make payments to and from online casinos using PayPal.