Not upheld: gambling-related transactions on credit facility complaint against PayPal UK Ltd
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6104833 of 2026-05-13T00:00:00+00:00. gambling-related transactions on credit facility complaint against PayPal UK Ltd. Outcome: Not upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6104833 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-05-13T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | PayPal UK Ltd |
| Product | credit facility |
| Claim type | gambling-related transactions on credit facility |
| Outcome | Not upheld |
| Remedy | None. The complaint was not upheld and no refund or further action was ordered. |
Summary
Miss M complained that PayPal UK Ltd improperly allowed her to use her PayPal Credit account to fund payments totalling £1,280 to an online merchant (PP) that she believed was a gambling website. PayPal rejected the complaint, stating that PP was not classified as a gambling service and did not use a gambling merchant code. The ombudsman upheld PayPal's position, finding that PP does not offer real money gambling, is not regulated as a gambling operator, and does not appear on the UK Gambling Commission register. The ombudsman concluded that PayPal had no reasonable way to identify the transactions as gambling-related and therefore did not treat Miss M unfairly.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman found that businesses can only identify gambling transactions if a merchant uses a recognised gambling merchant category code. Since PP did not use a gambling code, was not regulated as a gambling service, and did not appear on the UK Gambling Commission register, PayPal had no way of knowing the transactions were gambling-related. The ombudsman's investigation confirmed that PP offers games with optional in-game purchases rather than real money gambling, so there was nothing to suggest PayPal treated Miss M unfairly.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal UK Ltd, all decisions | 237 | 18% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website