Online gambling has skyrocketed in popularity in the past several years, largely due to the pandemic shutting down physical casinos. The move sent gamers online, which many found more fun and convenient even after the world reopened. Today, digital gambling is a $63 billion industry, with online casinos deploying the latest technology to improve gameplay, fight fraud and reduce the burden on staff and IT teams.
Payouts are a critical part of the gaming industry that technology could drastically improve. Gamblers complain about the contrast between casinos’ swiftness in accepting money and their sluggishness in disbursing winnings. Still, the reality is that existing technology stacks limit many casinos. By implementing instant disbursements, online gambling sites could improve gamers’ satisfaction and increase their likelihood of returning.
The “Money Mobility Tracker®” explains how forging tech partnerships to offer instant payouts can be a winning formula for online betting sites to cultivate customer loyalty.
Gamblers have plenty of gripes regarding the traditional-style casinos they frequent. These include puzzling house rules on card games to weak drinks at the bar. In the online sphere, however, their most common complaint stems from slow winnings payouts. The Better Business Bureau has registered roughly 2,400 complaints against the three largest online sports betting operators, DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM, for slow payouts. Gamblers allege that the companies forced them to wait days, even weeks, to receive their winnings.
Most gamers prefer instant disbursements, but few have access to them. A PYMNTS Intelligence study found that 79% of gamblers opted for instant digital disbursements when offered them. Seventy-six percent who did not have the option to receive instant payouts would have chosen instant if the company offered it. Just 49% of gamers have access to real-time disbursements. In brick-and-mortar casinos, gamers can typically convert chips to cash instantly and for free.
Implementing instant payouts may seem expensive for many gambling sites, but the payoff can be significant. Instant payouts streamline back-end operations and act as a catalyst in enticing gamers to return. Ingo Payments CEO Drew Edwards noted in an interview with PYMNTS Intelligence that if players receive their payouts instantly from a specific site, they tend to reinvest them in subsequent bets at that site rather than taking them to a competitor.
“[For example,] I win money, it goes in my app, I can then bet on the game while I’m at dinner, [and] then I can come back and move it back to the table,” he said.
Unilaterally implementing instant payments can be a daunting task for casino IT departments. For many gaming companies, partnering with a trusted firm in the payments space can be a more feasible approach. ClutchBet, for example, adopted Pavilion’s entire suite of withdrawal options, including real-time payments, the FedNow® Service and same-day automated clearing house (ACH) solutions. These technologies deliver money instantly to players’ checking accounts and send a confirmation email.
Implementing real-time payments can even enhance payouts for more unconventional sources, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Station Casinos partnered with open banking payments company Trustly in August to handle payments for the casino’s NFT loyalty marketplace.
The “Money Mobility Tracker®,” a collaboration with Ingo Payments, explains how forging tech partnerships to offer instant payouts can be a winning formula for online betting sites to cultivate customer loyalty.
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