Has Paypal Sold Out Online Gamblers?
Many online gamblers are chewing their nails over the news that Paypal is opening its payment records to perusal by the US Internal Revenue Service. Ostensibly the IRS is looking for those who have hidden assets in offshore and foreign banks but online gamblers are afraid of getting caught up in the net. Not only is their concern with untaxed gambling winnings that may be found but there is the fact that internet gambling is illegal in the United States. Paypal has gone to extensive lengths to distance themselves from online gambling, particularly in the US, but it wasn’t always that way. When the company first started out, they happily did business with many online gambling concerns for almost a year and a half – until 2002. At that point, Paypal was indicted for supplying services to offshore gambling sites which was against two sections of the US penal code. Paypal paid a hefty settlement of $10 million dollars which was to be representative of the profit earned on the illegal gamin
