PayPal is one of the world’s most recognised payment processing gateways and is now accepted at the checkouts of millions of secure eCommerce websites.
I’ve also noticed that this globally renowned online payment solution is now available on hundreds of fully licensed and regulated iGaming sites in the cashier section.
I regularly use PayPal to top up my online gambling account, for example, and I love the fact that I can also use PayPal to withdraw my winnings.
For more than ten years, I have been using PayPal as my primary deposit and withdrawal method, so I consider myself fairly seasoned when it comes to using it.
Therefore, I thought I would try to make life easier for anyone who is considering using PayPal to pay for goods and services online by offering some simple advice and five important tips.
Top 5 tips for using PayPal at your favourite sites
Before I discuss why people choose PayPal to top up their favourite sites and cash out their winnings when the time comes, here are five important tips I feel everyone should know, whether you consider yourself a season pro or newbie:
- Tip 1: Stick to playing at reputable sites – before I sign up anywhere, I like to carry out some basic research to find out if the website I am about to join is trustworthy, and I suggest you do the same. Any trustworthy online casino that accepts PayPal will be fully licensed and regulated (preferably by a mid-to-top-tier licensing authority, and will be owned and operated by a renowned company with an excellent reputation)
- Tip 2: Make sure it accepts PayPal – not all online gambling platforms accept PayPal. If it’s your preferred payment method, and you don’t like using other online payment solutions like Visa, Paysafecard, Apple Pay, or Trustly, for example, go to the payments section to check if they accept PayPal. If they don’t accept PayPal, I tend to avoid them
- Tip 3: Get your PayPal account ready to use, topped up, and fully verified before using it, and then when you have signed up to a site that has online fruit machines, blackjack, roulettes, craps, poker, and baccarat, get that account verified too. If you don’t verify your ID and proof of address documents, temporary restrictions could be placed on both accounts. It’s annoying, but to speed things up, you may want to do what I do and have these documents stored and ready to send from the moment your new PayPal/iGaming accounts have been activated
- Tip 4: Deposit into your new account using PayPal by following the simple onscreen instructions. Deposits are usually processed instantly with PayPal. Just make sure you enter the correct details and fill out all the required fields before completing the transaction
- Tip 5: Turn on additional account security measures, where possible, like two-factor authentication (2FA), and regularly monitor your account transaction history to check that no unauthorised payments have been made. However, if you are ever the target of fraudulent cybercriminal activity, and you’re not to blame, PayPal will try to help you reclaim any money that was stolen from you. I always switch on 2FA because I don’t want any hackers or fraudsters targeting me.
If you can remember some of these important tips when you next use PayPal at your preferred site, it should, hopefully, make life a little safer and easier for you.
Why choose PayPal?
There are many reasons why so many people, myself included, prefer using PayPal at the checkout and why more operators than ever accept it as one of their trusted payment gateways to facilitate payments between the website and their customers.
For example, PayPal is now over twenty years old and has evolved to become the well-oiled machine it is today. With PayPal, payments are more secure than most traditional online payment methods.
PayPal deposits are instant, and withdrawals are also known for being fast (I tend to receive my winnings within less than two hours these days). Also, PayPal is easy to use, uses high levels of encryption to protect my money, and doesn’t require me to enter any credit card or bank details at the checkout.
It’s also one of the lowest-cost online payment solutions out there, and when I send or receive money to/from friends/relatives/other PayPal account holders, it’s free.
Whatever payment method you decide to use on your favourite entertainment site, I must add that you should always try to play responsibly. You can do so on many of today’s most trusted PayPal-accepting sites simply by using any of their safer gambling tools.
For example, the tool I’ve found most useful is the monthly deposit limit tool, which I set to £20 per month. If you have more spare money, you might want to increase this or perhaps set a £20 daily or weekly limit instead. Other players find that setting win/loss limits or session time reminders helps them.
These responsible gambling tools are available at all UK-licensed sites and can easily be adjusted and set by you when logged in to your account.
