Withdrawing with PayPal: what players in Austria should know

A PayPal withdrawal is not offered by any of the five casinos compared here. HellSpin, Verde, Nomini, Izzi and Starda do not list PayPal for players from Austria, nor in their general payment lists, neither for deposits nor for cashing out. For withdrawals, these operators offer other routes: e-wallets such as Skrill, Neteller and Jeton, bank transfer, or Visa and Mastercard. How these groups differ is shown in the overview of withdrawal methods, split into bank, card, e-wallet and crypto.

PayPal’s acceptable use policy for Austria adds a condition: it classifies casino games and sports betting as activities that require approval and ties them to a clear condition about where operator and customer are based. What this rule means, which e-wallets are listed instead and why the choice of deposit method already decides the way back follows section by section.

I

PayPal at the five casinos: not listed

The payment lists for players from Austria look similar at all five operators, and PayPal appears in none of them. For withdrawals they name:

• HellSpin: Visa, Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, MiFinity, Jeton and bank transfer. Deposits are also possible via Paysafecard.
• Verde Casino: Visa, Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, MiFinity, Jeton and bank transfer. Here too, Paysafecard is listed for deposits only.
• Nomini: Visa, Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, MiFinity and Jeton in both directions, plus bank transfer as a withdrawal route. According to AskGamblers, Paysafecard is “deposit only”.
• Izzi Casino: Skrill, Neteller, MiFinity, Jeton, Visa, Mastercard and bank transfer, the same for deposits and withdrawals.
• Starda Casino: Visa, Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, Paysafecard, Jeton and bank transfer.

The longer method lists that are not limited to Austria do not contain PayPal either. They do show further names such as Revolut (HellSpin, Nomini), Trustly (Izzi, Starda), MuchBetter (Starda) or a range of cryptocurrencies, but no PayPal account as a destination. An online casino with PayPal for deposits and withdrawals is therefore not among these five: there is neither a way in nor a way out via PayPal.

For the domestic monopoly operator win2day, no information on PayPal is available. A player from Austria only writes: “Du musst über ein Bankkonto in Österreich verfügen” (you need a bank account in Austria).

II

What PayPal’s acceptable use policy says about gambling

PayPal regulates gambling payments in its acceptable use policy for Austria. In the table of activities requiring approval, the section “Glücksspiele, Gewinnspiele und Wettbewerbe” explicitly lists “Kasinospiele, Sportwetten” (casino games, sports betting). Such payments need prior approval from PayPal. They are only permitted if operator and customers are based exclusively in a jurisdiction where these activities are legally allowed.

None of the five operators holds an Austrian concession. According to Casino.Guru, HellSpin holds a licence from Kahnawake, while AskGamblers and LCB also name Curaçao. Verde Casino holds a licence from the Curaçao Gaming Control Board, as does Starda; Izzi has a licence from the Curaçao Gaming Authority. According to Casino.Guru and AskGamblers, Nomini is licensed in Anjouan (Comoros), whereas LCB lists “No license”.

PayPal is not among the listed payment methods at these casinos, so a PayPal deposit is not offered there in the first place. For planning, this means choosing the route for deposits and withdrawals from the methods that are actually listed, before any money moves.

III

E-wallets that are listed

Anyone looking for an account similar to PayPal, meaning a balance in their own name without card details at the casino, ends up with e-wallets. Skrill, Neteller and Jeton are listed for withdrawals from Austria at all five casinos. MiFinity appears in the withdrawal lists of HellSpin, Verde, Nomini and Izzi, but not at Starda. Further wallets such as eZeeWallet and SticPay (HellSpin) or Payz (Nomini, Starda) appear only in the general method lists, not in the details for Austria.

Timing differs clearly between the operators. For e-wallets, HellSpin states 0-24 hours (according to the AskGamblers table) or up to 12 hours (according to LCB and the AskGamblers text), Verde 0–24 hours according to AskGamblers, Nomini 24–72 hours, Izzi and Starda 0–5 days each. Before that comes processing by the casino: 0-72 hours at HellSpin, up to 3 working days at Nomini according to its terms, 0–72 hours at Izzi according to AskGamblers or 24 hours according to LCB, and 0–48 hours at Starda according to AskGamblers or 24 hours according to LCB. How processing and crediting add up to the total withdrawal time is broken down by operator and method.

Weekends differ as well. According to AskGamblers, HellSpin also pays out at weekends. Nomini does not process at weekends; its finance department works Mon–Fri 6–17 GMT. According to AskGamblers, Izzi and Starda do not pay out at weekends, and Verde counts its deadlines without weekends and public holidays.

An e-wallet does not automatically mean speed. One player writes about a stuck payout: “I made withdrawal request last week to mifinity wallet”, although earlier withdrawals had gone through without trouble. At Nomini, the choice of wallet also affects the bonus: deposits via Skrill and Neteller do not count towards the welcome bonus there.

IV

Same method as for the deposit

The details on the five casinos do not state word for word that withdrawals go only to the deposit method. The document lists show, however, that the payment route plays a central role in the check. Izzi and Starda require proof of ownership of the payment method and proof of deposit, HellSpin also asks for proof of deposit. Verde asks for a photo of the payment card used for deposits, and Nomini, according to its terms, for transaction histories of the payment methods used in the form of bank or card statements.

When this check happens differs by operator. At HellSpin it usually comes with the first withdrawal, at Izzi before the first withdrawal, at Verde at the latest from 1,000 USD/EUR, and at Nomini every withdrawal is checked with an account verification. Anyone who completes the verification before a withdrawal right after the first deposit still has statements and card photos at hand.

Player voices show how this can go wrong in practice. One was told to deposit first: “a message appeared that I had to make a deposit”. Another reports a withdrawal denied “because of old cards”, and a third waited three weeks because the bank had issued a new card in the meantime: “I got a new card from the bank”. On Paysafecard, a forum puts it bluntly: “mit Paysafe auszahlen kannste nirgendwo” (you cannot cash out to Paysafe anywhere), although Starda does list it as a withdrawal route according to AskGamblers. What the terms say about pending, cancelled or blocked payouts is collected on the page about withdrawal problems.

In practice this leads to a simple order: choose the way back first, then deposit with the same method. Anyone using a Skrill or Neteller account, for example, deposits through it and later has the same channel for cashing out, with statements that prove both deposit and ownership.

V

Payment services and the law in Austria

In Austria, gambling is reserved to the federal state under § 3 GSpG; the concessions lie with Casinos Austria, and online gambling is offered by win2day. For payment services, § 52 (1) GSpG is relevant: it penalises anyone who, “als Kreditinstitut wissentlich die vermögenswerte Leistung eines Spielers” (as a credit institution, knowingly passes on a player’s payment) to providers of prohibited gambling. The rule targets credit institutions, not players. How monopoly, licences and reclaims fit together is set out on the page about the legal situation in Austria with the norms in force.

On top of this comes a plan that does not yet apply. The amendment to the GSpG is before the Finance Committee as government bill 594 d.B., and according to Parliament deliberations have not yet started. The draft § 56e GSpG provides for “Zahlungssperren bei verbotenen Ausspielungen („Payment-Blocking“)”, payment blocks for prohibited gambling. According to the government bill, the plan is that payments for prohibited gambling can be blocked in future; it has not been adopted.

Even without a new law, banks already check where money comes from. Under § 6 (1) no. 4 FM-GwG, obliged entities such as banks obtain and check information on the origin of the funds used; this can include occupation, income or financial circumstances. One player also describes a blocked crypto route: “Withdrawal via crypto is blocked”. How players from Austria respond when the bank asks where the money came from after an incoming casino payment, and which records help, is described separately.