Fresh off the bet365 saga, responsible gambling campaigner in the United Kingdom are now on PayPal’s neck after the company was accused of allowing problem gamblers to circumvent their bank limits. To put this into perspective, the payment service provider reportedly allowed gamblers to spend as much as £15,000 daily and this has raised a lot of questions about the use of the service by gambling addicts or problem gamblers to easily surpass bank limits.
PayPal’s online payment system allows people to transfer money to anyone who has an email address. These PayPal accounts are connected to bank accounts or credit cards and but they also allow customers to use PayPal debit cards to withdraw money or make purchase both online and at physical stores. Usually, is a customer does not have enough money in their PayPal accounts when they make payments, the balance is taken from their bank accounts and if the account has not been linked with a bank account, the customer’s credit or debit card are charged instead.
As such, the claim that problem gamblers may have found a loophole that allows them to circumvent bank limits is quite reasonable, to say the least. Bank limits are one of the measures that are used to fight against problem gambling and the fact that gamblers are able to surpass them is extremely worrying especially for the country’s gaming regulator. The number of known affected individuals (over 430,000) is enough proof that this needs to be addressed as fast as possible.
Tougher Restrictions
Legislators and gambling experts in the United Kingdom have called on PayPal to be more responsible when it comes to preventing people from generating massive gambling losses. The UK Gambling Commission, on the other hand, is reportedly considering adding online payments to its review of the use of credit card in gambling activities.
PayPal has since acknowledged the possibility that its services may have been used by compulsive gamblers and it has already taken steps to review its controls, which may mean that its payment rules are much stricter. One of the key areas of concern is the fact that PayPal currently has no limit when it comes to gambling payments which makes the identification of compulsive gambling habits through their previous transactions quite difficult.
The implementation of viable solutions is definitely going to be an uphill task but it goes without saying that as consumer protection agenda area advanced in the country, various stakeholders including those that have no direct link to the gaming industry, such as banks and payment systems, should focus more on ensuring consumers are protected.
