German online gamblers won’t be able to use PayPal any longer

The German government has launched a crackdown on payments processors working with suppliers of online casinos targeting German gamblers, so PayPal’s German-language guidelines had to be updated to include: 9.1. Prohibited Activities, Germans will no longer be able to use the company’s services “in connection with offers that are not legal in your respective whereabouts, including some online gambling offers.”

“if you are unsure as to whether on not a specific offer is legal in your place of residence, you must ensure that it is legal before using PayPal’s services in connection with the offer.”

The new rules are scheduled to become effective on October 21, 2019, and PayPal will no longer be an available payment option for online casino products.

The German State of Lower Saxony issued a couple of months ago an order to an unnamed payment services provider, urging it to immediately cut ties with any internationally licensed online gambling operators targeting German customers.

The payments company was generally prohibited to do business with operators providing online casino, poker, and lottery betting products on the territory of the country, as these are prohibited under the State Treaty on Gambling. Many believe that the affected payments provider was PayPal, although that has not been confirmed yet.

Last December, major gambling group GVC Holdings announced that “PayPal won’t be available as a payment option for casino product in Germany” across all its brands.

The state of Schleswig-Holstein is the only place in Germany where online casino gambling is legal. Previously issued online casino licenses expired earlier this year, but were reinstated in June until mid-2021, when German authorities hope a permanent gambling regulatory framework that will apply to all states will take effect.