Payment Expert was on the ground at SBC Summit Lisbon earlier this year, quizzing both gaming and payments leaders on what have been some of the biggest emerging trends within the both industries this year.
Marc Cregan, Senior Director of Gambling and Crypto at Worldpay, believes the surge in interest of network tokens and digital currencies could possess new unforeseen settlement times to benefit both payment providers and gambling operators.
Renuka Rawlins, Head of Policy at Yaspa, however, believes the proliferation of AI will not only accelerate payment flows, but also detect problem gambling and payment failures with greater accuracy and reliability.
What have been some of the emerging digital payments trends this year within the gaming sector that are shaping the customer experience?
Marc Cregan: Network tokens have completely taken over this year. Everyone’s done a fantastic job with Apple Pay in recent years, leveraging it to get the best authorisation rates. Most providers now have a front and centre, almost default option when the customer is onboarding, but we are seeing network tokens taking off now at the minute.
We’ve got our own products, Revenue Boost, which goes a step further. A network token on its own can be almost a little bit dumb in terms of sending it to an issuer instead of a PAN.
But people don’t realise that not all issuers are completely ready for network tokens. A: You could be brute forcing something that’s not going to get through. B: Some of them actually see a higher authorisation rate with a full PAN.
Our solution is not just a basic network token, it has AI routing as it realises which issuers prefer network tokens, which issuers prefer PANs and then it will route your transaction to give you the best opportunity for a higher success rate.
On top of that, we have smart retries built into it too. For example, if you try and get a transaction through a network token and it fails, it will automatically retry that with a PAN to give you the best opportunity to get the highest authorisation rate possible.
Renuka Rawlins: In 2025, we have seen three powerful shifts in how payments are shaping the igaming experience.
First, real-time deposits and withdrawals have moved from being a “nice to have” to becoming a core expectation for customers. Players want to have their deposits immediately cleared and accessible, as with their withdrawals, and that level of speed is increasingly central to trust and retention.
Second, AI-powered payment flows are transforming both security and the user journey. Machine learning applied to financial transactions is enabling operators to detect fraud in real-time, reduce false declines and tailor payment flows to individual players, to detect and prevent problem gambling, or adapt limits to reflect a player’s actual financial situation.
For regulated sectors such as igaming, that combination of speed, safety and intelligent decisioning is essential, and it is where our open banking and payments infrastructure delivers significant value.
Third, the need for multi-method and locally relevant payment options continues to grow as iGaming reaches more diverse and international audiences. Customers want to use payment methods that feel familiar and trustworthy, whether that is a local digital wallet, a bank transfer or even a crypto-based option. Yaspa’s payment rails are designed to offer this flexibility and support a more inclusive payment experience.
Alongside these commercial and technological shifts there is a clear policy trend emerging. Regulators are increasingly focused on responsible payments and safer gambling which means payment providers must contribute more actively to compliance, anti money laundering controls, Know Your Customer (KYC) checks and real-time monitoring.
What are some of the payment compliance procedures gaming companies need to have in place this year and next, and should the onus be on payment companies to inform gaming companies of these?
Marc Cregan: It’s a partnership first and foremost. We’re absolutely not just there as a solution provider. Europe’s fun, because every jurisdiction has different regulations. But then, even if you go into the US, every state has different regulations.
I think finding the best partner to be able to help you navigate regulation is absolutely essential for success, particularly as you see a lot of jurisdictions where credit cards are banned, for example. You need a good provider who can give you a bin list, who can ensure that they can block credit cards on your behalf as well.
Ultimately, the onus is on the operator to make sure they’re not accepting credit cards, but we can absolutely be there as a line of defence in order to provide you with a great bin list that we can update weekly to ensure that you’re always blocking the most up-to-date new bin ranges for credit.
Additionally, use this as a backstop for having a credit ban within your gateplay for you.
Renuka Rawlins: When we look at the payments landscape for igaming companies this year and next, the compliance expectations are becoming both more detailed and more integrated into day-to-day operations.
At a minimum, operators need to ensure they deploy robust KYC and Know Your Business (KYB) checks, strengthened anti-money laundering processes and real time transaction monitoring that can spot unusual patterns before they become incidents. We are also seeing a growing focus on affordability assessments, player risk profiling and clearer audit trails that demonstrate responsible payment journeys.
These requirements increasingly sit alongside expectations for enhanced data security and stronger reporting standards, particularly as regulators across markets look to tighten oversight.
In my view, payment companies can offer a material contribution to operators’ compliance procedures. Payment companies play a critical role in the wider ecosystem and we are often closest to emerging regulatory changes, new technological requirements and cross market risks.
Intelligent payments combines real-time open banking with AI-driven insights to help provide operators with broader and deeper player intelligence to optimise LTV and promote responsible gambling.
Compliance should not be a burden passed from one party to another. It should be a shared effort that helps the industry raise standards while giving players a safer and more transparent experience.
With the surge of digital currencies this year, explain some of the benefits of adopting digital currencies as a payment method for gaming customers and are they growing in popularity?
Marc Cregan: If you look at a global operator who’s operating multiple different jurisdictions, stablecoins are incredibly powerful for navigating that cross-border experience, limiting your FX risk and ultimately making cheaper payments.
From a sports betting perspective, over 50% of betting will take place on the weekend. Customers now expect instant payouts any time they win a bet. For merchants, who are only using standard fiat currency, if they’re taking in all those bets on the weekend, realistically, those funds aren’t being settled to them until Monday or Tuesday
Stablecoins gives you that instant access to your liquidity to then payout instantly to your customers.
Renuka Rawlins: Digital currencies, particularly stablecoins, are becoming increasingly attractive in iGaming because they offer near-instant settlement, low-cost cross-border transactions and a more flexible, digital-native experience for players who expect speed and transparency.
We are seeing steady growth in adoption, especially among younger audiences and global platforms looking to reduce friction in payouts and deposits.
At Yaspa we recognise the potential but also the need to integrate these technologies responsibly, which is why we are actively exploring this space with the recent hire of Connor Edwards as Product Manager for Stablecoins to help assess how digital currencies can enhance the customer experience while meeting the sector’s high compliance standards.
This article is the first of a two-part series of interviews from SBC Summit Lisbon. The second article – which will feature comments from Breno Oliveira, Thomas Voaden and Viktoriia Degtiarova, will be published on December 11.
