Over the last two years, sign-ups to online gaming websites and programmes greatly increased. Due to the effects of lockdown forcing casinos and gambling halls to close down, online poker and online sports betting, amongst several other forms of iGaming, became increasingly popular.
Digital payments also saw a rise over the last two years. While Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) were already increasing in use pre-pandemic, forcing players online removed cash and tap payments, with many looking to adopt new payment methods in order to play. Add on to this that credit card use for online gaming was capped, or in some countries completely banned, and it becomes clear that APMs are a very popular form of payment for the iGaming and Sports Betting industry.
Armed with and accustomed to an array of APMs, consumers can spend their money to play from almost anywhere in the world from card or cash-based wallets to mobile payments, to pre-paid cards.
Gaming operators unable to accept these APMs risk creating customer friction-points that interfere with their growth ambitions and prevent them from scaling their businesses to serve a global customer-base and reach new markets.
The rise and rise of APMs
Consumer adoption of APMs is growing exponentially and were believed to account for over half of all global eCommerce payments in 2019 – the last year for which results are available. At a more regional level, it is reported that in Europe, upon reaching the Point of Sale (POS), 80% of consumers have an expectation to pay for their goods and services with a digital payment method rather than a typical debit or credit card.
Meanwhile, across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, nearly all consumers (94%) report that they would consider using an APM in 2022 and within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) experts are saying digital wallets are set to be the region’s preferred means of making payments. Owed largely to the pandemic and the necessity for online, digital, and contactless payments, Latin America is also catching up with 55% of the population now banked and the use of APMs on a steady increase.
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