PayPal took a while to get going as a transaction method after its inception in 1998, but when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay in 2003 it really began to take off. Now the electronic payment system is independent from the popular trading company and well-established the world over, and in 2015 it was nearly worth $50 billion. The company which negates the need for things like checks and money orders is also now a highly popular method of adding funds to accounts in the vastly lucrative online gambling industry. After it held out from associating itself with casinos until 2008, this agreement was welcomed by thousands of online casino players.
In the past, PayPal didn’t get involved with the gambling sector because of its affiliation with eBay, but since it became independent, on July 18, 2015, it has been enjoying a lot more freedom. The worldwide casino industry is worth an astonishing $155 billion, so it stands to reason that the electronic payment system would want to get a cut of the immensely profitable market. In the past, some players may have felt uneasy about using their credit or debit cards at sites that they didn’t know much about, so they would have welcomed seeing a trusted product like PayPal and being able to add funds in that way. The massive growth of the online casino sector has also brought about other methods of payment, such as paying by phone bill or using cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.
Because PayPal is such a well-known brand, it reassures people that they are playing with a respectable operator when they see the option. PayPal allows the players to pay in a safe and secure way and is now available on most casinos’ payment pages. Online casinos that operate with PayPal have to be located in jurisdictions where online gambling is allowed, and knowing this can also provide a guarantee to players that their hard-earned funds are being dealt with in the correct manner.
Paying for iGaming with PayPal also has numerous benefits. It is quick and easy to use with a simple checkout process, you don’t need to provide any sensitive information that could leave you vulnerable to identity theft, and those who choose to pay with PayPal at casinos can also use the system elsewhere online, such as paying for shopping. In addition to all that, customers always know that their money is safe because PayPal uses a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This is the safest standard to create links between server and browser in the world.
Because PayPal provides customers with these extra advantages and also the comfort that everything is above board, online casinos are desperate to offer the payment method to their clients. This is also obviously highly beneficial to PayPal, which is now worth more than eBay, as well as Netflix and Twitter. PayPal has more than 169 million users worldwide, and this presents an advantage to online casinos. People from all over the world can play at casinos that are located in different countries without having to have a bank card from that particular nation. They can simply top up funds using PayPal and the company deals with working out the differences in exchange rates.
Soon, using traditional methods of payment at online casinos such as credit and debit cards could become a thing of the past. Because PayPal has proved itself as such a convenient and effective option, other electronic methods are cropping up thick and fast to give way to eWallets and other alternatives. One of the most popular new ways of paying is with bitcoin, which could be compared to PayPal in a number of ways. It too is swift and secure, and provides users with anonymity. Moreover, it can be used from anywhere in the world. For that reason, some online casino sites have opted to only accept the e-currency in an effort to attract global audiences.
PayPal probably needn’t worry about the competition from the likes of bitcoin because it is already much better established than the cryptocurrency. But with these electronic methods helping people play online casinos more smoothly, credit and debit card payments may soon disappear. Futuristic payment methods are here to stay.
