I always like to see firms battle the regulators.
In the past few days, a few U.S. online gambling websites have started to accept PayPal—a first in more than a decade. Yet the payments company has been very quiet about it, with no press release or official comments, reports Eric Chemi at CNBC.
The company hadn't supported online gaming in the U.S. since 2003, as a result of increased regulation and its merger with eBay, notes Chemi.
In a statement to CNBC, the company said: "PayPal is launching a pilot program to support four leading real money gaming (RMG) operators to offer PayPal as a way for gamers to fund their online accounts with these merchants. We are launching this pilot now that we are able to fully comply with the evolving laws surrounding RMG in the United States as well as the requirements of our payment partners. As a global payments provider, PayPal's goal is to give people safe and simple ways to pay for the things they want, so long as we can comply with applicable laws."
PayPal must have sharp lawyers to try and pull this off.
-RW
Something is afoot. ESPN, the sports behemoth, is talking up football game lines, etc., like never before. Being Disney owned - a company that wants to portray itself as family friendly - ESPN has always shied away from the gambling side of sports.
ReplyDeleteNow, on each of the handful of TV and radio shows I have seen / heard, there is no shyness on the topic.
This doesn't happen by accident.