PayPal ramps up egaming presence with landmark Neovia deal 30/09/2009

Stephen Carter

PAYPAL HAS made a major move back into the online gaming sector, signing a deal with payments giant Neovia to be offered as a payment method to customers of sites using Neovia’s Netbanx payments gateway.

The world’s largest e-wallet provider, PayPal has chosen to partner only with a handful of operators since its return to the sector in 2006 following a four-year hiatus after it was withdrawn from the sector in 2002 by parent company eBay, later facing allegations it had violated the US Patriot Act and Wire Act. The most recent operators to sign a deal with PayPal were poker room PKR and casino specialist 32Red.

However the deal with Neovia, which is used by more than 1,500 egaming sites available from the UK and is one of the largest providers of ewallet solutions to the egaming sector, marks a major change in strategy.

Commenting on customers of all sites using Neovia’s Netbanx payments gateway being able to use PayPal for transactions if they are signed to Netbanx, PayPal general manager for merchant services Cameron McLean said the deal “offers PayPal an excellent way to reach this significant audience.”

PayPal was withdrawn from the sector in 2002 by parent company eBay, the US government later alleging it had violated the Patriot Act and the Wire Wager Act by knowingly transferring funds to offshore gambling sites. eBay paid the US government US$10m in a settlement in in 2003.

Neovia, then trading under the name of Neteller, also settled with the US government in 2007 over charges it had illegally transferred monies on behalf of gambling businesses, agreeing to forfeit US$136m. A deferred prosecution agreement relating to these charges recently expired. PayPal will not accept US bets under the new arrangement.

For more on this topic, see our earlier PayPal and egaming feature and opinion piece on why PayPal should relax about online gambling.

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Posted: 30/09/2009