PayPal Bingo

PayPal stores and accesses the information about the actual funding source (be it a credit card or a bank account) and serves as an intermediary between the player and the bingo site. This allows you to deposit to your account with your PayPal balance. You can also use a credit or debit card to “load up” your PayPal in the event you do not already have a balance. Account holders can even fund their PayPal accounts by moving money in from the bank account tied to PayPal. Regardless of the funding source you select, PayPal does not share this underlying financial information with the bingo site or sites. Thus, they act as a buffer (added level of personal security) between you and the vendor (bingo site).

How to deposit with PayPal

When you go to a bingo site and you want to make a deposit, find your way to the cashier/banking section and choose PayPal as your payment method. You then need to enter your PayPal identification and choose the amount of money you wish to place “in play”. This is a quick and virtually painless process so you will be playing games without any delay after you have entered your email address and processed the deposit.

If you have money in your PayPal account, it will be immediately transferred to your chosen bingo site as your deposit. If you do not have any money in it, then the bingo site will take the money using the funding option you have previously selected if it is a credit or debit card. They do this through your PayPal account, which means that the bingo site will not get any additional information about your chosen source of funding. Alternatively, you can choose to make a bank account transfer to your PayPal account. This may lead to a delay of approximately a week, which will lead to a delay in you playing at your desired bingo site.

There are no extra fees involved in using PayPal to deposit or cash out from the bingo sites that we cover. If you do want to withdraw any winnings, you simply transfer the money to your PayPal account. You can then pull the money out if you have a PayPal debit card, you can leave the money in your account to use elsewhere, or you can cash out your money to your bank account.

Is it safe to use PayPal to pay for online bingo?

The PayPal account operates using an email address and a password, so the card or bank that funds PayPal does not have to be revealed. Thus, all your personal and financial information is kept strictly confidential (not directly shared with the bingo site). Your card and bank details are protected by up-to-date data encryption technology so even if you play bingo on many different sites, you can rest assured that all of your personal information is secure. This method is also popular as it is an instant deposit method with no time delay. If you do not have sufficient funds in your PayPal account, the funding method you have previously chosen will immediately be used to send funds to PayPal, which will then be forwarded to your online bingo account, so whenever you have the urge to play you will not have to wait.

In addition to providing financial security, PayPal is very selective in that they work with in terms of online bingo and online gambling websites. In previous times, PayPal conducted business indiscriminately with a wide variety of bingo sites. However, various governments began cracking down on gambling online. As a result, PayPal voluntarily excused themselves from providing financial services to gambling oriented websites before it became a “problem” for them.

Since moving away from gambling transactions (in 2003), PayPal adjusted their policies. Now, they selectively work with licenced bingo websites and operators. As a rule, PayPal will not work with an online bingo site that accepts players from countries where gambling online is specifically forbidden. Thus, if the website takes US players for example, PayPal will not accept transactions from the operator. This does not mean that PayPal is an expert on licences or that they have limited themselves to servicing and doing business with only safe, ethical operators. However, this policy does reduce their overall risk as a company and it assists you (as a bingo player and customer) in avoiding some of the rogue and unregulated operators trying to do business online. At present (in 2012), PayPal can only be used at bingo sites holding a valid “EU and UK Endorsed” remote gambling licence. With this in mind, you should still do your own “homework” in ensuring that you are playing only at safe, properly licenced, and ethical bingo sites even if you are playing bingo using your PayPal account.