ACQUISITIONS - Narrative (Details) $ / shares in Units, employee in Thousands, $ in Thousands, € in Millions, merchant in Millions, AUD in Millions										7 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Apr. 22, 2016 USD ($) employee merchant $ / shares shares	Oct. 05, 2015 USD ($)	Oct. 05, 2015 EUR (€)	Jun. 01, 2015 USD ($) location	Mar. 25, 2015 USD ($)	Mar. 25, 2015 EUR (€)	Oct. 10, 2014 USD ($)	Oct. 10, 2014 AUD	Mar. 04, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	May 31, 2016 USD ($)	May 31, 2015 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill										$ 4,807,594	$ 4,829,405	$ 1,491,833
Heartland Payment Systems, Inc
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash paid per outstanding share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	$ 53.28
Shares received per outstanding shares (in shares) | shares	0.6687
Total purchase consideration	$ 3,922,820									3,922,820
Shares of Heartland common stock (in shares) | shares	38,350,000
Share price of Global Payments common stock (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	$ 73.29
Number of employees added as a result of the merger | employee	1
Increase in number of merchants | merchant	0.3
Increase in annual payment volume as a result of merger	$ 130,000,000
Goodwill	3,200,000									$ 3,214,981
Business acquisition, transaction costs											$ 24,400
Payments to acquire business, gross	$ 2,043,362
Realex Payments
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill					$ 66,809
Business acquisition, transaction costs					$ 1,200							$ 1,200
Percentage of voting interests acquired					95.00%
Cumulative percentage ownership after all transactions		100.00%	100.00%
Ezidebit
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill							$ 203,828
Payments to acquire business, gross							$ 266,000	AUD 302.6
Percentage of voting interests acquired							100.00%
FIS Gaming Business
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill				$ 94,250
Number of customers acquired | location				260
Payments to acquire business, gross				$ 237,500
PayPros
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill									$ 270,878
Payments to acquire business, gross									$ 426,500
Percentage of voting interests acquired									100.00%
Customer-related intangible assets | Realex Payments
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible asset, useful life											16 years
Customer-related intangible assets | Ezidebit
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible asset, useful life											15 years
Customer-related intangible assets | FIS Gaming Business
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible asset, useful life											15 years
Acquired technology | Realex Payments
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible asset, useful life											10 years
Acquired technology | Ezidebit
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible asset, useful life											15 years
Acquired technology | PayPros
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible asset, useful life											7 years
Trade name | Realex Payments
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible asset, useful life											7 years
Trade name | Ezidebit
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible asset, useful life											5 years
Contract-based and customer-related intangible assets | PayPros
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived intangible asset, useful life											13 years
Euro | Realex Payments
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire business, gross | €			€ 6.7			€ 110.2
United States of America, Dollars | Realex Payments
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire business, gross		$ 7,500			$ 118,900
Heartland Payment Systems, Inc
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Percentage of revenue represented by subsidiary											4.00%
Percentage of operating income represented by subsidiary (less than)											0.50%