UK Online Gamblers Receive PayPal As A Payment Method

PayPal, like many other companies, was scared away from the online gambling industry in the US. The popular payment processor was stopped by its parent company, eBay, from accepting payments for online casinos in the US.

Now, however, the company is back in the online gambling market. The company signed a deal to become a payment service provider for merchants of Neovia Financial. Neovia has a strong presence in the UK online gambling industry.

PayPal will still not process payments from US customers to online gambling sites, but they will do so in other jurisdictions where Internet gambling is regulated. The move to sign the deal with Neovia has some people believing that PayPal may be reconsidering their online gambling stance.

"It was very clear back in the early part of this decade that PayPal made an effort to move away from online gambling altogether," said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz, "With this deal, however, it may be a signal that PayPal is reconsidering that stance and is preparing to make a full jump back into the online gambling industry."

Right now in the US it has become increasingly difficult for payment processors that want to accept online gambling transactions. The US government has already began seizing bank accounts that are related to online gambling payouts.

The laws in the US may change, however, in the near future. Representative Barney Frank has proposed legislation that would overturn the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. That legislation is not expected to be discussed until early next year, although Frank has indicated that the issue would be brought up in Congress in the Fall.

October 1, 2009
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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