ICE Insights: Trending Pain Points and Opportunities in Gambling

The BR-DGE team recently attended the ICE gaming and gambling conference in London for an exciting few days of networking, insights from industry experts and a deep dive on what’s ahead for the industry.

Our team; Thomas Gillan, Jacob Spencer, Tom Voaden, Sam Dines, Joe Taylor and Iqsar Ahmed, share below their observations on key themes discussed at the show.

The painful topic of new payment products

Top of the pain-point leaderboard is the issue of launching new payment methods within the gambling industry, particularly implementing in-demand options like Open Banking. The number of Open Banking users around the world is increasing rapidly, at a rate of around 50% a year, according to Statista. Although there’s a huge volume of merchants interested in supporting bank payment options, there’s still some concern about the complexity of integration and rollout – as well as which options to choose.

Another hot topic is the ability to do instant payouts via card. While this is something that many merchants would benefit from implementing, the coverage still isn’t widely available and it can be resource-intensive for merchants due to the need for costly infrastructure, compliance with regulations, complex integration and high transaction fees, amongst others.

There’s also great demand for flexible payment solutions, emphasising the need for options beyond traditional hosted payment pages. Merchants are seeking versatile solutions that complement their existing payment stacks, rather than restricting them to a single platform – and ones that they can integrate and implement quickly.

Launching in LatAm

The Latin American (LatAm) market stands out as a keen focus for many gaming operators and payment providers, with several already investing heavily in the region. However, navigating the diverse payment methods and regulatory frameworks in LATAM is proving a minefield for many.

LatAm is a highly fragmented and nuanced market, with credit card penetration below 30% and in countries like Mexico, Peru, and Colombia there are more smartphone users than individuals with bank accounts.

While cash remains the preferred method of payment, particularly in rural and less developed areas, an incredible 75% of the population in the region, (487.5 million people) are unbanked or underserved by traditional financial institutions. So, while the opportunity for the market is huge – finding a route to support payments in the region is not straightforward for any merchants.

Importance of Network Tokens as an independent solution

Network tokenisation shines as a significant topic of conversation, reflecting its importance in enhancing security and authorisation rates within the payment chain. Implementing tokenisation quickly is particularly crucial for those in emerging markets such as Brazil. PYMNTS Intelligence reports using network tokens results in an almost 30% reduction in fraud, proving that the increasing use of network tokenisation is transforming the way payments are secured for the better. And with network tokenisation predicted to facilitate 85% of all global ecommerce transactions by 2028, this is a solution that gaming merchants are looking to get ahead with.

For merchants, the appeal of a standalone token solution is one of 2024’s biggest emerging trends. Its appeal lies in greater flexibility across multiple gateways while delivering clear return on investment.

Our independent token solution, known as BR-DGE Vault, offers a personalised and convenient checkout experience. We enable centralised network tokenisation, which enables merchants to easily switch PSPs to meet changing needs, while retaining control over customer payment data.

How BR-DGE can help merchants navigate global payment challenges

The BR-DGE team's experience at the ICE gaming and gambling conference highlights the importance of addressing pain points in launching new products, navigating regulatory complexities, and embracing flexible payment solutions to capitalise on emerging opportunities in the global gambling industry. These are all challenges that BR-DGE is perfectly placed to address via our payment orchestration platform.

Interested in the real changes our intelligent payment orchestration has made to merchants just like you? Check out our client case studies.

For more on the industry-leading events BR-DGE will be attending this year, head to our events page.