Recent research by WorldPay revealed that, globally, ecommerce is expected to be over US$4.6 trillion globally by 2022, with 140 different online payment methods already in use today.

Also Juniper Research has found that global international digital money transfer transaction volumes will reach 2 billion by 2024, up from 1.1 billion in 2019. Both, online and mobile channels are achieving strong growth. Mobile channel will account for 68 percent of transaction volume in 2024; up from 63 percent in 2019.

iGaming operators need to be able to recognise this growth, especially for the mobile type of payments and make sure they support both the traditional and alternative, new methods that are becoming more popular in this digital age

What is meant by Traditional versus Alternative payment methods?

Traditional payment methods (for deposit and withdrawals) in online casinos and sportsbook include;

• Bank Transfers (via bank account)


• Debit Card and Credit card payments – for example


• Visa and Mastercard (and other credit card options)


• e Wallet – for example


• Skrill


• Neteller


• Ecopayz


• Qiwi


• Yandex money

The e wallet option, has been around for a while, and though not strictly traditional, can be counted as such given the new range of alternative payment systems now available, via mobile and other means

Alternative payment methods

Alternative payment methods have increased in popularity as financial technology companies and tech giants have entered the payments industry providing consumers with faster and more convenient ways to make purchases In 2021 alternative payment methods are expected to account for nearly 55% of global e-commerce transactions.

Alternative online payments that will be familiar to online gaming bettors include these examples, not all of which are “gambling friendly” for online casinos or sports betting providers;

• PayPal


• Stripe


• Apple Pay


• Alipay


• Klarna


• PaySafeCard

Cryptocurrencies

Another alternative payment method is via Cryptocurrencies, such as BitCoin.

Cryptocurrencies are gaining popularity day by day as a payment method with more and more online casinos and sportsbooks adding them to their list of options. This kind of currency has great potential advantages for both the operator and players.

The good news is that more and more gambling markets globally, for example the United Kingdom Gambling Commission and Malta Gaming Authority, have already recognised BTC as a legitimate payment method, allowing its online casinos and sportsbooks to offer this means of payment method to their players.

Advice to new iGaming operators

Knowing the mix of your customers’ ways of accessing your online gambling site (mobile, desktop or tablet), as well as local payment preferences, is vital if you want to provide the most appropriate payment methods . Customer awareness of your payment methods is also important – players will prefer to use payment methods they recognise, already use and have confidence in.

Localising payments

An online gambling business, when looking at new geographical markets, needs to look closely at the country and the habits of the betting population For example if you want to offer your service in Brazil you need to include a particular, very traditional method called Boleto.

Help with localisation of your payment offering should be at hand though. A iGaming operator’s payment provider should be able to give advice for what is popular with their existing clients in a specific country or region. In many markets, offering the right APMs (Alternative payment Methods) will also provide a sense of legitimacy, important when building trust with bettors.

Customer trust and conversion

It is advisable for iGaming companies to provide, as a minimum of the top three payment methods in a given market or country in order to meet customer needs. Most bettors will know and use use at least one of them, and it has been shown that providing the top three methods can increase customer recruitment or conversion by up to 30%.

Advantages of new alternative payment methods

Recruitment

A player’s first experience an online casino or sportsbook is often when they try and open an account and deposit into it, using their traditional credit or debit card details.

Research has shown 25 per cent of players abandoning the account opening process because it was too long or complicated.

With some methods of alternative payments, especially via mobile banking apps, use of biometric information, to authenticate their details, such as fingerprints, can help quickly link the customer’s account to their bank. This can get the customer ready to deposit and bet in a short time

Increased Conversion

Once players have successfully executed a deposit, payment failures are up to four times lower with some alternative payment methods than with debit or credit cards – on average cards fail up to 15 per cent compared to 3.5 per cent for instant bank payments. This can mean better customer experience and less customer churn

Potential reduced fraud

Alternative payment methods can be safer than traditional methods, especially with built in authentication, using biometric data, such as fingerprint or face ID to identify themselves in their banking platform.

Casino or sportsbook operators can be more positive that the person opening a gambling account is who they say they are. This can lead to less chargeback worries for the operator and a better customer experience.

Choosing an iGaming Platform provider

So, if you are considering entering the world of online betting and gaming, choosing a software provider, or igaming platform company, is a key decision to make.

As well as the general questions regarding the platform and the betting and casino services on offer, the range of both traditional and new and alternative payment providers they have on their platform is of vital importance.

Localisation, as already mentioned, is important for content and also for payments and choosing an igaming platform provider that can support your market entry, wherever in the world will be one of the most important decisions for you.

Summary

Digitain is an excellent option. They already work with the leading payment solution providers and continually look to expand their global reach, offering more than 130 payment methods and empowering their iGaming partners to accept deposits, transfers and withdrawals for digital betting and gaming via a single wallet solution. 

Digitain’s partners are equipped with the latest easy-to-use technologies designed to implement secure online transactions.

Offering a wide variety of solutions, Digitain cover Card Payments, e-wallets, bank transfers and Crypto payments, giving their partners’ players freedom of choice to perform online transactions, to deposit and to withdraw, safely worldwide, wherever they may be.