PayPal invokes policy to restrict account holders betting on basketball pool
15 Mar 2012
EBay Inc's PayPal is restricting accounts of people it suspects of using the payment service to place bets on National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball championship tournament.
In alerts sent to some users who had used the service for wagers for March Madness (refers to the three-week annual National Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball tournament in the US, commencing this week), it said their account use had been ''limited.''
''After a recent review of your account activity, it has been determined that you are in violation of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy regarding your sales / offers of March Madness sports pool,'' a representative of PayPal's brand risk management division wrote in an e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News.
The user agreement for PayPal, EBay's fastest growing business, bars the use of US accounts for sending or receiving payments for ''activities that involve gaming and / or any other activity with an entry fee and a prize.''
The highly popular men's college basketball championship gets underway this week.
Meanwhile, a new device that allows people to process credit card transaction with smartphones or iPads and a small plug-in device is in the process of being launched by Ebay.