Martyn Hannah, Co-founder and Managing Director of online casino comparison site, Comparasino, says operators are removing payment options due to underusage, costs and compliance, and that Pay n Play will be the only method available before long:
There was a time when online casino operators were adding payment options to the cashier almost as quickly as they were games to the lobby.
Cashiers would have everything from debit cards and digital wallets to prepaid vouchers and mobile-only options to give players as much choice as possible for depositing and withdrawing.
But today, online casino cashiers look a little different. In fact, they look a little bare.
The vast majority of brands listed on Comparasino now offer a small number of core payment options including Visa and Mastercard as well as PayPal.
At some, you’ll also find instant banking – usually provided by Trustly or TrueLayer – and at others, you might get a few extra digital wallets like Skrill and Neteller.
At a small number of casinos, mobile players can also use Apple Pay and Google Pay, but again, the brands offering this are few and far between.
So why is this happening?
Too much to choose from:
Consumer choice is important but give too many options and it can cripple one’s ability to make a decision – if you’ve ever been in a restaurant with an overly extensive menu, you’ll know the feeling.
While a player will eventually select a payment option to make a deposit, too much choice adds friction to the onboarding journey – a process that already takes far too long.
By streamlining the cashier to just a few core options, consumers are more easily funnelled through the payment gateway and into the casino.
Transaction declined:
Amid tightening margins, especially in highly regulated online casino markets such as the UK, operators are having to manage costs and dialling in on payments is a good way to do this.
Operators pay a fee to each payment provider they have in the cashier, and if those providers are not being used that often, they can be offered at a loss.
A regulatory scare:
Online casino operators are also likely to be concerned by some of the regulatory issues being encountered by the likes of AstroPay, a digital wallet that’s had restrictions imposed on its UK licence by the Financial Conduct Authority.
This is unlikely to put an online casino operator’s licence at risk, but it does mean having to undertake significant work to remove it from the cashier, notify players and put processes in place for those who do deposit and withdraw via the payment method.
This comes at a time when consumer trends are changing, too. Think about how you pay for most items, especially when purchasing online.
For me, it’s debit cards, instant banking and Apple Pay, and these are the very same options that you now find at most online casinos.
But where are online casino payments heading, and will we see even more options stripped out of the cashier?
Pay and Play is the future:
Yes, I think we will, and this will happen sooner than you might think now that Pay n Play is available in the UK market for the first time via Trustly and TrueLayer with its SignUp+ solution.
These solutions are being trialled by a small number of UK online casinos right now – for the ones that Comparasino works with, its proving to be revolutionary, especially when it comes to removing friction from the entire onboarding and payments journey.
The solutions being trialled by Trustly and TrueLayer are slightly different from each other, but they work in pretty much the same way.
The player arrives at the casino and taps the prompt to sign up and deposit via Instant Deposit. They then select the amount they want to deposit followed by their email address, password and mobile number. Next, they select their bank and are taken to their mobile banking app where they sign in.
After that, they are automatically returned to the online casino where their account has been created and their deposit made. I’ve done it myself and it literally takes 30 seconds from arriving at the casino to being able to play.
Better still, online casinos can also offer instant payouts with these solutions, ensuring players get their winnings in an instant – literally.
As more online casinos add Pay n Play and SignUp+ to their cashiers, the need to have other payment options available is mitigated with both onboarding and depositing undertaken simultaneously (and securely) and in just seconds.
And this makes it a win for players and a win for operators, too.
