open banking
open banking

The role of open banking in gambling payments has increased in prevalence and importance in recent years – with it growing as an asset to boosting efficiency and improving consumer engagement. 

Trustly’s Head of Commercial Strategy Ciaran O’Malley spoke to Payment Expert about the evolving relationship between open banking and the gambling sector, as well the role the firm can play in the process. 

Payment Expert: Can you tell us more about some of the benefits to the gambling sector when it comes to potentially embracing open banking?

Ciaran O’Malley: There are two main benefits for the gambling sector. Firstly a seamless UX payment experience for players. Players want to play and they don’t want to take time making or waiting for payment. The Open Banking user experience, especially on mobile, has the right balance of ease and “positive friction” to ensure the player feels in control.

Secondly, Open Banking payments are 2-factor authentication, which means operators will see a dramatic reduction in fraud and no chargebacks vs. cards. This has a direct reduction in cost and will bring down administration and support costs too.

Payment Expert: Just how significant will the implementation of open banking be for the speed of payments and subsequently player engagement in sports betting? 

Ciaran O’Malley: We see loyal players often prefer bank transfer for large deposits and for them it will be transformational. Those deposits can be credited instantly with Open Banking. Although note there are some complexities here that I will cover in my talk.

For the casual player, they won’t see a huge change versus the payment method they use today unless they are offered Trustly. With Trustly all players can receive instant pay-outs, and 81% of British players want this feature. However, this is not part of Open Banking. 

Payment Expert: What are some of the challenges involved with the industry taking on open banking? 

Ciaran O’Malley: I’m going to cover this in detail in my talk but to give you a taste, Open Banking is not a payment solution designed for gambling. There are two main challenges that make APIs “out of the box” unfit for sports betting operators.

Payment Expert: Are you able to tell us more about the role Trustly can play in bringing open banking to the betting sector?  

Ciaran O’Malley: Trustly has over 12 years of experience working with both sports betting and Open Banking, from before it was called Open Banking! Trustly’s complete payment product unlocks the value of Open banking APIs and delivers a complete payment solution. Merchants can benefit from the great UX and no chargebacks, but still, have all the functionality they need to accept payments efficiently. To name a few, these include international reach, transaction risk mitigation, settlement & reporting and loyalty boosting instant pay-outs.

The proof is in our clients. Today we can see GVC’s Ladbrokes brand excelling with their implementation of Trustly in the UK and achieving very high conversion rates.

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The discussion of Open Banking and the gambling sector will be further explored by Trustly as part of this week’s SBC Summit Barcelona – Digital. Click here to secure your free pass for the betting & gaming industry’s largest-ever virtual event. 

The full agenda features sessions that cover markets on six continents, together with verticals including sports betting, payments, online casino, slots, live casino and lottery. The crucial issues in those sectors will be examined from a variety of perspectives such as business planning, trading, product development, technological innovation, regulation and compliance, marketing, and investment.