A host of online bingo providers are lining up to reintroduce PayPal as a payment method for its customers.

The policy is a return by bingo operators to the use of PayPal, which is one of the busiest facilitators of secure payments worldwide. It is a shift in policy that highlights how far the payment service's stock has risen since it was all but abandoned by the online gaming industry in 2006 amid fears over PayPal's sustainability.

However, since then the company has gone from strength to strength, allowing “any business or consumer with an email address to securely, conveniently and cost-effectively send and receive payments online”. This universality has been the secret of its success, and the payment service now boasts over 200million regular users and revenues of over $668million (£435million).

The move has been welcomed by consumers who are already familiar with PayPal thanks to its intrinsic links with its parent company, online auction and shopping behemoth eBay, along with its association with other leading online retailers.

Bingo players have long since bemoaned the lack of PayPal addition to many bingo sites, with chat rooms and forums constantly alight with queries as to why bingo providers did not offer a PayPal option. In true democratic fashion, providers have begun to sit up and take note, particularly in the knowledge that it is not only the players who will benefit from PayPal's quick and easy interface. The company's track record of providing secure payments and account management – together with its continued anti-fraud operations – make it an ideal fit for the online gaming industry.

The only uncertainty surrounding the news is a debate over which providers will once again allow PayPal donations. PayPal's popularity amongst consumers will hold great sway in such decisions, to the degree that once leading online bingo providers make the switch it is difficult to believe that their competitors will not follow suit.

Although no online providers were prepared to offer comment at this stage, it is news that will invigorate both players and providers as the industry looks to consolidate after an uncertain first six months of 2010. Offering PayPal as a payment service will open up the sector to a host of new players – exactly the shot in the arm the industry requires.