A new crackdown launched by the German government is set to prohibit the use of payment processors working with suppliers of online casinos which are targeting German online gamblers.
The new rules, which are scheduled to come into effect on 21 October, will nullify PayPal as a viable payment option for online casino products.
As a result, PayPal’s German-language guidelines received an update which read: 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.”
This isn’t the first time in which PayPal has been nullified as a payment option, with GVC Holdings announcing last year that “PayPal won’t be available as a payment option for casino product in Germany” across all its brands.
Moreover, the German State of Lower Saxony recently issued an order to an unnamed payment services provider, who many believe to be Paypal, urging it to immediately cut ties with any internationally licensed online gambling operators targeting German customers.
Although the consensus is that this ‘unnamed provider’ was in fact PayPal, its true identity is yet to be confirmed or denied.
With recently reinstated online casino licenses running until mid-2021, the state of Schleswig-Holstein remains the only place in Germany where online casino gambling is legal, however, German authorities are hoping a permanent gambling regulatory framework that will apply to the whole country will take effect soon.
