Gone are the days when customers could only choose between paper or plastic. Today, there is a wide selection of e-wallets which allow people to securely and electronically store their funds, depositing and withdrawing them whenever they wish. Amongst the most popular of these is PayPal, which boasts a staggering 254 million accounts worldwide.
There are a number of advantages for those looking to use PayPal for betting, which makes it a superior choice over other e-wallets and more traditional debit and credit cards. These include the fact that an e-wallet is more secure than entering your bank details into the betting site, as well as the fact that, unlike Skrill betting or Neteller betting which charge you for making transactions, UK customers won’t incur any fees with PayPal. Additionally, PayPal has extremely fast transactions, with instant deposits and withdrawals being processed in around two hours.
If you’re thinking of betting with PayPal, then it’s important to know that the payment method will be accepted on your favourite bookmaker sites. Thankfully, there’s a huge selection of PayPal accepted betting sites to pick from, including some of the biggest names in the industry alongside smaller, more niche operators.
Just some of the bookmakers that accept PayPal are Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill, Betway, 888sport, Betfred, Betfair, Paddy Power and BetVictor, amongst many, many others.
If you are already signed up to a bookmaker site and want to add PayPal as a payment method, then you will be able to do so through your account settings. Alternatively, if you are considering signing up to a new bookmaker site and it’s important that you’re able to use PayPal for betting, then make sure you check the operator’s available payment methods before you register.
Gone are the days where debit and credit card betting were the only options available. With PayPal, bookmakers in the UK are just some of the various online businesses that can offer the payment method to their customers. In fact, PayPal is available in 202 countries across the world, with many implementing the electronic wallet on gambling sites. These include the likes of Belgium, Finland, Italy, Spain and France, alongside many others.
However, it is important to note that there are some countries that don’t only restrict PayPal accepted betting sites but online gambling operators altogether. These include the USA and Canada, as gambling activities are not formally regulated in these jurisdictions.
If you want to enjoy all the benefits of betting with PayPal, then first things first, you will need to set up an account. This is a very quick and simple process, and involves the following;
Let’s explore these steps in a bit more detail. Firstly, you need to visit the PayPal website and click on the ‘Sign up’ button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. From here, you will be directed to a page that asks whether you want to create a Personal or Business account. As you will be using your PayPal account for depositing and withdrawing betting funds, this will be considered a Personal account. Make sure ‘Personal Account’ is selected and then click ‘Continue’. Next up, you will need to fill in a few details. These include your country of residence, along with your name, email address and your chosen password. Make sure this password is strong – preferably a mix of uppercase letters, lowercase letters and numbers – and is not something that can be reasonably guessed. You should also ensure that this password is unique to the PayPal site. This means that if your login details are compromised on another site, you can rest assured that it will not affect your PayPal account. Next, simply verify your email address.To complete your registration, you can link your PayPal account with your credit card or bank account by entering the details. You can link multiple bank cards to your PayPal account if you wish. And that’s it: you’re all done.
Using PayPal for betting is very straightforward. After you have linked your selected credit card or bank account, you can click on the ‘Transfer Money’ button to add funds to PayPal. You will be directed to a new page where you can select which bank or credit card you want to deposit funds from and the amount you wish to transfer. Deposits with PayPal are processed pretty much instantaneously.
Next, go to the bookmaker site and click on the deposit funds option. This will usually be in your account settings, but it will vary depending on the operator. Select PayPal as your payment method and enter the amount that you want to deposit.
When you click to confirm, a pop up should appear on your screen. This will ask you to verify your PayPal account by logging in. Once you’ve done so, your funds will be transferred from PayPal into your online bookmaker account, ready for you to start wagering with.
PayPal didn’t become the biggest e-wallet in the world by accident. They are one of the simplest and quickest payment methods to use, so naturally, PayPal is also available on mobile devices. This means that you can use it to deposit and withdraw funds when playing on mobile gambling sites.
Just like with the desktop version, when you make a deposit via PayPal on a mobile bookmaker site, you will need to verify your account for security reasons. You will therefore be directed to the PayPal app and can verify your account in an instant by either entering your password or utilising your device’s one-click touch ID.
We’ve already mentioned a few of the advantages of using PayPal. One of the major selling points is just how safe it is. As well as PayPal removing the need for you to enter your bank details into multiple sites, it also steps up security by encrypting all your transactions and only making the details of these available to you.
On top of this, PayPal also implements certain customer protections, which means that if something goes wrong with your transaction, you can enjoy greater levels of support than you would be offered from a traditional bank.
As well as being free to use and offering super speedy transactions, PayPal can also be used to redeem bonuses at the majority of PayPal accepted betting sites. This means that you can use the e-wallet for all your betting needs, from deposits to withdraws and taking advantage of those promotions and deals. You can also use PayPal across multiple betting sites, streamlining your payment method and avoiding the need to enter lengthy bank details time and time again.
As you can see, PayPal is a fantastic option for those wanting a fast, convenient and secure way to manage their funds. However, there are a few things that you should consider.
Firstly, while there is a wealth of betting sites that do accept PayPal transfers, there will still be a number of those which don’t, particularly newer operators. Therefore, you may find that you are unable to use your preferred payment method at your bookmaker of choice. This is why we always advise that you read up on all the terms and conditions of a bookmaker site before registering an account there.
In addition to this, there are certain countries where online betting – and therefore using PayPal for betting by default – is prohibited. This means that if you travel outside of the UK to one of these jurisdictions and you attempt to access a betting site that accepts PayPal, you may be blocked from doing so. Make sure you check the rules and regulations of a country before you attempt to gamble online there.
Finally, there have been reports of PayPal occasionally freezing customer accounts. Although this can be very annoying if it happens to you, there are good reasons why PayPal does this. This may be because they suspect a security breach, such as if your account has been accessed from a suspicious location, or they suspect that you are using your account for illegal activities, such as money laundering.
It is strongly advised that you read up on all the terms, conditions and guidelines of PayPal before registering an account and if your account has been frozen and you believe you should be entitled to reactivate it, you can contact the PayPal customer service for further support.
Looking for more payment method guides? Take a look at our Bitcoin betting and Paysafe betting reviews!
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