TrueLayer has gone live with UK sports betting operator Midnite, adding the company to its pay by bank client base.
The open banking provider TrueLayer announced on 19 August it will give Midnite players the option to deposit and withdraw funds directly from their bank accounts rather than using a debit or credit card.
Payments are authenticated through players’ banking apps using biometrics, with transactions confirmed in real time through an app-to-app process.
“iGaming is where payments get stress-tested,” said Roberto Villani, VP of iGaming at TrueLayer. “Players want money in and out in seconds, and operators need certainty on every transaction. That is what pay by bank was built to do.”
Through the partnership, Midnite gains access to TrueLayer’s open banking network, which spans 27 million users across the UK and Europe, as well as the infrastructure needed to process instant bank-to-bank payments.
Midnite launched in 2018 and has established itself as a challenger in the UK sports betting market through its mobile-first product and recent sponsorship deals in football and snooker.
Huynh said the company sees payments as a way to differentiate from competitors, with speed and ease of use key to the approach.
“At Midnite, we want the experience to rival the best consumer apps, and payments are no exception,” he said. “Players expect money in and out to be instant and secure. TrueLayer’s pay by bank gives us the infrastructure to deliver that.”
Pay by bank rises in iGaming and elsewhere
Pay by bank has become a common payment method over the past couple of years, with adoption spreading across iGaming and mainstream e-commerce.
In a December 2025 blog post, Lisa Scott, Chief Strategy Officer at TrueLayer, pushed back on the idea that consumer demand is lacking, stating that adoption of the payment method is driven by merchants choosing to offer it.
The merchant-led push has extended to some of the largest names in online retail this year, as TrueLayer partnered with eBay and Amazon to add pay by bank to their checkouts.
In betting and gaming, the payment method has been around for quite some time and is perhaps more familiar with bettors than everyday shoppers.
Villani told Payment Expert that the reason the payment method resonates so strongly with bettors comes down to how differently the sector treats money moving in both directions.
“iGaming was one of the first sectors where payments were tested in both directions. Customers expect deposits to be instant, but they judge an operator just as much on how quickly their money comes back out,” he said.
“Cards were designed primarily for making payments, so withdrawals often feel slower and more cumbersome, and that’s often where trust starts to break down.”
He added that the security and speed of pay by bank plays into how the industry is being asked to operate, explaining that money can also be returned instantly to their bank account versus waiting for days or even weeks for a refund.
Areas to improve
Despite growing merchant adoption, familiarity among consumers hasn’t kept pace. Open banking provider Yaspa found last year that 55% of UK adults recognised the term “pay by bank”, but more recent research suggests that awareness has since declined.
Speaking to Payment Expert earlier this year, James Neville, CEO of Yaspa, said recognition comes down to presentation as much as functionality and that consumers who don’t immediately understand what they’re being asked to do tend to default back to cards.
Asked whether operators have a responsibility to help educate users, Villani said the task shouldn’t fall to any single party.
“Pay by bank is becoming increasingly mainstream, now appearing at the checkout of some of the world’s largest online merchants. Operators can help build trust at the checkout by using recognisable terminology and clear icons, such as bank logos,” he said.
“But education is a shared responsibility. TrueLayer’s role is to make the experience intuitive enough to need little explanation. Banks also have a role to play, and need to help inform and educate their own customers too.”
