Sports fans are adding real-time payments to their celebrations of the annual Super Bowl.
On the Sunday and Monday immediately following this year’s big game, the number of transactions related to sports wagering conducted on the RTP network increased 82% compared to the previous week, The Clearing House told PYMNTS in an email.
At the same time, the amount of money withdrawn to bank accounts from sports wagering sites rose 27%, TCH said in the email.
The Clearing House attributed this activity to sports wagering clients withdrawing their winnings to their bank accounts.
As PYMNTS reported Jan. 28, a new scale and scope for wagering was in place for this year’s Super Bowl, as 26 states plus Washington, D.C. now have legalized online sportsbooks.
Together with that increase comes a growing demand for instant payments.
Ingo Money CEO Drew Edwards told PYMNTS’s Karen Webster at the time that he couldn’t imagine winning money in sports wagering and then being told by the site that they’ll send a check in a week. The experience needs to be digital-first.
“The Super Bowl is by name one of the mega events as it relates to advertisers, and as it relates to this type of activity and behavior,” Edwards said. “None of that happens without money in and money out or money in between. Instant payments are just natural in that process.”
Enabling real-time payments via the RTP network to bettors’ bank accounts was an industry first making its debut at this year’s Super Bowl, Trustly CEO Alex Gonthier told Webster.
Having pay-in and deposits done in real time — and powered by the RTP network — benefits both the bettors and the platforms and keeps money flowing smoothly through the gambling ecosystem, Gonthier said in an interview posted days before the big game.
“It’s better for the gaming operators because the money leaves their environment but it can also come back instantly … it’s accelerating the business velocity,” Gonthier said.
Beyond the Super Bowl, the online sports betting industry is on a winning streak.
At last check, Americans have wagered an estimated $125 billion on sports in the past five years, according to the December 2022 edition of the “Money Mobility Tracker®,” a PYMNTS and Ingo Money collaboration.
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