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MEET THE TEAM: TRUST PAYMENTS Kevin Dodson, Head of Direct Sales, Gaming, and Rio Broadfoot, Gaming Vertical Director, speak to Gambling Insider about Trust Payments' ambitions in Europe and the US Trust Payments has a small but expanding team based in Atlanta, USA, focused on creating the best experience for gaming customers. Gambling Insider caught up with two key members of its team: Kevin Dodson, Head of Direct Sales, Gaming, and Rio Broadfoot, Gaming Vertical Director. KEVIN DODSON What presence does Trust Payments have in the US? Trust Payments has been operating out of the US supporting our gaming merchants since 2008. The company saw an opportunity to help European and UK businesses become more global and take advantage of the golden opportunities offered by growth into the largest consumer
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market on the planet. The company has initially focused on supporting online gaming companies, offering payment and payment-related compliance services. Later, we have expanded into other emerging verticals such as CBD and cryptocurrencies. We have been supporting several online casino, poker and sports betting companies to expand their offering into the US market for seven years now. We’re successful because we understand that all players need to get the VIP treatment they deserve when they sign up or at checkout. We focus on a smooth and trusted payment experience including instant deposits, withdrawals and subscriptions. We target operators who turn over anything from $300k/ month to upwards of millions of dollars per month. We can facilitate payments and compliance services in all US states where online gambling is legal, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado and Nevada. We plan
to apply for licences in other states as our merchants expand their solution. What is the compliance challenge with gaming in the US and how is Trust Payments supporting businesses in this area? The main pain point experienced by gaming operators expanding into the US is finding an easy, non-intrusive and inexpensive way to manage the KYC process, including checks for the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) and Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). As well as our payments technology, we offer a very competitively priced fully managed service to handle these customer compliance checks, taking the hassle out of it for our gaming clients. Often when we explain this offering to our customers, they are delighted. We have even had one gaming operator get on the phone to their current KYC provider, to cancel their existing arrangement in favour of signing up for our service there and then – that was an amazing and humbling moment. How is Trust Payments tackling security for gaming customers? It is logical that, due to all the new digital payments methods now widely used around the world, operators will need to have an even more vigilant focus on anti-fraud, anti-money laundering and compliance, to avoid chargebacks and operational costs. Chargebacks are of course an important and useful fraud protection mechanism. Unfortunately, operators do not have the same protections. Consumer chargebacks often end up being used as a tool to commit fraud, rather than recover from it. This fast move to digital requires stronger security, advanced authentication and better transaction decisioning across the entire industry. Fortunately, there are ways to manage this. It is important to keep in mind that how you
