THOUGHTS ON ALTERNATIVE PAYMENTS, SUCH AS CRYPTO

Mandi Hart: Customers should have the same payment options in gaming as they do in their daily lives. We at Sightline are so passionate about providing digital payments solutions at brick-and-mortar casinos. You’ve seen some of these alternative payment methods, Venmo and Zelle in particular, introduced in the cashier page for many sports betting operators. As for crypto, we’ve spent a lot of time on that opportunity, working with regulators to educate them on the technology. Until you have some federal guidelines surrounding the use of cryptocurrencies, it makes sense for the industry to take a slower approach to accepting those payments.

Victor Newsom: Whether it’s mainstream or alternative, you’re always trying to grapple with how easy it is to accept a payment, how trustworthy it is, and how real the payment is. In most cases, in regulated environments, who is providing the payment identity is important. With methods like crypto or real-time payments from the clearinghouse or fed, the idea of irrevocable transactions in real time are very attractive. They’re not necessarily technically easy, but the idea is that there’s really no (or low) risk of settlement associated with those transactions. The reality is you still have a lot of friction points in terms of identity. Everi has several products designed for the gaming sector that address regulatory, reputational, financial, settlement, and other risks while delivering convenience and value – but it is definitely not easy. It’s an industry challenge that means a tremendous amount of player, staff and regulator education requirements.

Christopher Justice: While alternative forms of payment are certainly interesting, there are not enough use cases for them to be viable for the gaming industry at this time. There are also regulatory implications of using cryptocurrencies in gaming, especially considering some of the recent controversies surrounding crypto. We will continue to keep a close eye on new alternative payment methods and develop ways to incorporate them into our solutions when they become commercially viable.

Anne Hay: I think a lot of the interesting recent technology developments have been centered around AI and its possibilities. We expect AI and machine learning to have a profound impact on the payments industry, including faster fraud detection, streamlined Know Your Customer (KYC) processes, predictive payment outcomes, instant transaction processing, and fewer mistakes with reconciliation and settlement. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the advancements and assessing the opportunities. As far as the technology within our own platform, we take great care in protecting our operators against potential risk and fraud while providing players with a frictionless payments experience. We allow operators to fund player withdrawals with a single For Benefit Of account (FBO). Not only does this significantly reduce the complexity of offering many pay out options, but our backend processes enable operators to remain liquid and in control.

Christopher Justice: The way people move money has completely changed in the past couple of decades, and all of the recent innovations in payment technology have reshaped how customers want to spend their money on gaming. New technology like real-time payments has radically altered the payments industry at large, and their applications for the gaming industry could be equally revolutionary. New advancements like two-factor authentication also keep our clients and their patrons safer than ever.

Mandi Hart: The advancements around KYC orchestration have been massive. We talk a lot with regulators about the evolution surrounding digital identity verification, how it has improved over the past few years, and how new tools can help better protect players and operators alike. We have found that no one KYC solution can provide all the tools necessary – some are great at ID capture, others with biometrics and device fingerprinting, and others with their database checks. But as you begin to group these solutions together, you can really effectuate a more secure customer experience that reduces fraud and account takeover dramatically.