PayPal faces criticism over allegedly letting problem gamblers spend up to £150,000 a day. This leads to concerns that addicts are leveraging the online payment supplier to avoid bank limits.
Gambling authorities and MPs urged the company to be more responsible to stop people from getting into debts that could make them bankrupt.
The UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said that the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) could review PayPal as part of their analysis into gambling on credit cards.
Tom Watson, the Deputy leader of the Labour Party, said that PayPal should be in charge of when it comes to identifying the signs of problem gambling and preventing the addicts from falling into debts as a result of their services.
PayPal offers enables users to make money transfers as long as they provide an email address. A customers’ PayPal account is ties to their credit card or bank account. The payment supplier also allows consumers to use PayPal debit card to buy and make money withdrawals. If PayPal shoppers have zero funds on their accounts to cover the cost of something, the remainder will be withdrawn from their bank account. If there is no bank account associated, the consumers’ debit or credit card will be charged.
Tamebay contacted PayPal to comment on the story. Here is what they said:
“Due to privacy laws, we cannot comment on individual cases, however, we are urgently looking into these reports and take them very seriously. The wellbeing of any vulnerable customers is our priority, and we will do everything we can to support those who may have been affected. Our team has already reviewed the controls we have in place to identify and block problem gambling, and changes have been made to tighten the rules that govern these payments.”
– PayPal
