If You're Gambling On March Madness With Your PayPal Account, You Might Want To Stop Now

If you're a tech-savvy gambler of a certain ilk, then you may already be using PayPal to make your payments and transfers convenient and easier to track (illicit or otherwise). The thing is, that's not kosher as far as PayPal is concerned, and eBay's in-house payment subsidiary has started actively hunting these users.

Not only is PayPal sending them threatening emails, it's also restricting some user accounts so they can't cover up incriminating evidence after the fact:

"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.

Weirdly enough, even if your account does become "limited," in PayPal parlance, you can still complete any pending transfers and pull money out of there. You just can't shut it down. Only when you sign the Acceptable Use Policy—essentially a document affirming you haven't broken any of PayPal's Terms of Service, which prohibit "activities that involve gaming and/or any other activity with an entry fee and a prize"—will the restriction be lifted.

The upside is that, either way, it looks like you still get to keep your money (for now). However, PayPal obviously thinks it can zero in on these users with some accuracy, so if you're using the service in such a manner, you might want to think about going to a more traditional, cash-based method of fulfilling your debts (or reaping your rewards).

[ Bloomberg News]