PayPal Betting Sites: Which Online Bookies Accept PayPal?

PayPal Logo on Smartphone on Top of Laptop

By wdnetstudio, Bigstockphoto.com

With over 200 million people using PayPal to shop online, it is a true giant of the industry. The online payment service has proven especially popular in the United Kingdom too as here there are 20 million customers that use the service each year.

A huge number of shops and companies gladly accept PayPal and this includes a sizeable number of online bookmakers and betting sites. Although not always offered, being able to top up your betting account using PayPal is far from a rarity and many customers choose to take up the option for a range of reasons.

PayPal: A Brief Background

Mobile Wallet on Smartphone Screen

PayPal was a creation of a company called Confinity that itself was established in 1998. The main purpose of Confinity was to develop security software for handheld devices but when this failed to prove fruitful, the company turned their attention to digital wallets. Shortly after, in 1999, PayPal was launched and it quickly caught the eye of X.com founder Elon Musk (you might have heard of him?!). By March 2000 a deal was struck to merger Confinity and X.com.

Optimistic about PayPal’s future, Musk dropped X.com’s other internet banking operations so he could put his focus on the main brand. It proved a wise decision as by October 2002, eBay decided to purchase the company for the princely sum of $1.5bn, setting Musk on his way to his estimated net worth at the time of writing of $300bn. With PayPal quickly incorporated onto many eBay listings, it became a fundamental part of the auction website. Fast forward to 2010 and fuelled by this growth, PayPal had 100 million active users in 190 markets.

Using PayPal When Betting Online

Payment Options Keyboard Button

PayPal is a global payment service that supports a huge range of different currencies so it should be no surprise to learn it is accepted by many bookmakers, casinos and bingo sites across the world. Like with every available payment option offered by a bookmaker, there are pros and cons to using it and it is not suitable for everyone. That said, PayPal is certainly one of the one of the more convenient and fast payment options and is arguably more secure than many other methods too. As such, it should perhaps be high up on your list of possibilities when betting online but at the very least you should be fully aware of how it works.

Deposits And Withdrawals Using PayPal

Woman Holding Phone Sitting at Laptop

When topping up your betting account via PayPal, the funds should appear virtually instantly once the transaction is confirmed. You might be waiting around a few seconds or so but that should be it. When your wallet updates you will be able to spend your new funds on the sportsbook, casino, live-betting or any other facility, as there are no restrictions placed on PayPal-originated funds. PayPal themselves do not impose a minimum transaction limit (it is possible to send a mere £0.01 to a friend) but the bookies will set a limit themselves. Most commonly this is just £5 or £10, although if you are betting from outside the UK, a €/$20 lower limit is certainly not unheard of.

As for withdrawals, as before, limits tend to be more generous among bookies in the UK. Due to UK Gambling Commission regulations, bookies cannot make it difficult for customers to receive their funds. As such, there is no requirement to turnover a deposit before withdrawing, nor are high minimum withdrawal limits permitted. Most often a minimum PayPal withdrawal is set at just £5 but £10 is not unusual either. In the case of the latter, should you have £8 you wish to withdraw, you will just need to make a deposit (for example £10) then take out the £18.

If you are betting elsewhere in the world, €10 or €20 is not at all unusual for a minimum PayPal withdrawal. As for the time the withdrawal will take, most bookmakers will state ‘up to 24 hours’ when using PayPal but in many cases, you will receive the funds in just a few hours or even seconds. You should expect to wait a minimum of four however as payments are not instant. The slight delay gives the bookmaker the time to review your withdrawal, giving them chance to flag any security issues if necessary. This happens rarely though so seldom will there be any real delay when claiming your funds.

PayPal And Debit/Credit Cards

Smartphone and Digital Payment Card

With PayPal, you are not obligated to deposit funds using your PayPal balance as you can use funds from a linked card instead. In most places across the world, you are free to use a debit or credit card but for players in the UK, you can only use the former. Rules introduced in 2020, in an effort to curb problem gambling, restricted punters from topping up betting accounts using a credit card. You cannot bypass this rule simply by letting PayPal take the funds from your linked credit card.

One other point to note is that when using a linked card via PayPal, the name of the bookmaker, or parent company, will usually feature on your bank statement. If you do not want to this to happen, for whatever reason, you simply need to first top up your PayPal balance using your linked bank account. When it comes to depositing at the bookies, you can then use your PayPal balance to fund your account. As this is an entirely separate transaction, there will be no reference to the bookmaker on your bank statement. Whilst betting does not affect one’s credit rating per se, it may impact on a mortgage lender’s affordability checks. In addition, many may wish to cover their tracks for personal reasons.

PayPal Fees

Fees Text Under Magnifying Glass on Blue Background

Typically, there is no charge for depositing or withdrawing via PayPal. If a customer wishes to take out £25, in most cases this is exactly the amount of money that will end up in their bank account. Although there will be a small actual cost for the transaction, most bookies do not bother passing this on to the consumer due to the reputational damage it would cause. Withdrawal fees have become so rare that many customers would simply end up doing their wagering elsewhere if their bookmaker started charging to take funds out.

There are some bookmakers that may charge for making multiple deposits per day or week, although this will apply across payment methods rather than just PayPal and again is rarer than it used to be. It is also possible that bookmakers will place a fee on specific payment methods but most often this will be a bank transfer, as this is the most expensive option for them. As PayPal is relatively low-costing, it is seldom the target for fees.

PayPal Currencies

Currency Symbols Floating Around Digital Planet

If you end up moving abroad, PayPal can be a convenient option should you want to seamlessly maintain your betting habits. Although you may have set up your PayPal account using pounds sterling, for example, with just a few clicks you can add another currency to your account. You can then convert some, or all, of the GBP in your main wallet to EUR, USD, CAD or any of the many other currencies supported by PayPal, creating a secondary wallet in the process. PayPal will take a small commission for themselves but it is a slim margin. When trying the service for ourselves they were exchanging £10 for €11.47 when the ‘real’ value was €11.87.

Just be sure to set the new currency as your ‘primary’ currency when placing a deposit so that the funds are taken from the right balance. By default, PayPal will always take funds from whatever is set as the primary option. When withdrawing funds at the bookie, payments you receive will be credited to the relevant currency balance, so there will be no conversion fees applied.