In this interview with CalvinAyre.com’s Rebecca Liggero, Neil Erlick of Paysafe discusses why it’s important to educate consumers on alternative payment mechanisms.
In a world of cashless payments, how does an online gambling operator ensure that money is getting into his site?
Players commonly opt for either pulling money from their bank accounts or using credit cards to fund their online accounts—the only problem is that a lot of people experience credit card rejections, which often results in the sites not making any money.
The solution is alternative payment methods, according to Paysafe Group’s Neil Erlick.
“[There’s] an online bank account, an online check, things like digital wallet, Neteller, Skrill,” Erlick told CalvinAyre.com. “There are ways to deposit. It’s just really up to the operators to help educate and inform the consumer that there are ways to make deposit and get money into the site.”
So how can operators educate their players about the alternative payment methods?
The answer, Erlick said, is to “incentivize”—such as giving out bonuses—to encourage the players to use a different payment method apart from their credit cards.
“We call it smart messaging,” the executive said. “Obviously, if a consumer has a card transaction declined, if they just sit there with a message that says, ‘Sorry, your card has been declined,’ it’s not going to do anyone good. So what do you do? There’s ways you can incentivize them perhaps to use an alternative means of payment, so if they have to give a little bit more by way of a bonus, that’s really a good way that we’ve seen has worked very well.”
Paysafe Group, in particular, chalks up 54 percent of its business from gaming companies, which Erlick said is because they have expanded outside of New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada.
“When we talk about gaming we don’t just talk about regulated gambling in places like New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada. We look at gaming really as an extension to that, so what else is there?” Erlick said. “There’s obviously the fantasy sports industry which is a huge explosion, a huge growth. ATW, horseracing, eSports, which is coming up, and state lotteries, so we process obviously for all these areas today in the U.S. as well as the UK, other parts of the world, and in Canada.”
