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With sports betting and casino gambling steadily gaining prominence as a payments market, payment processors are increasingly jumping on the opportunities the market presents. In the latest development, gaming-payments specialist Sightline Payments said it will offer its Play+ card, which has attracted 1.5 million users so far, as a Visa-branded card for the first time.
The company says the move will bring Visa’s tokenization technology to the card and allow users to include the card in the company’s Mobile+ mobile app, which Sightline says has been downloaded by nearly 4 million users.
Sightline bills this latest move as part of an effort to reduce cash usage in casinos and bring more digital-payment options to users. With the new branding, the Play+ card will also be usable at any location that accepts Visa. “Leveraging modern payments solutions strengthens the relationship between the resort and its patrons. Enabling customers to use a single wallet for anything across the resort provides guests a better experience while earning loyalty for everything they do on property,” said Joe Pappano, Sightline’s co-chief executive, in a statement.
Sutton Bank and GBank will be the issuers of the Visa Play+ card.
The replacement of cash with digital technology may be more important for the U.S. gaming industry than for most other payments markets. The industry, which Sightline describes as “cash-centric,” saw more than $100 billion in revenue last year, according to the company.
Sightline says its works with more than 80 entities in the markets for sports betting, lotteries, and racing, and with online and physical casinos. A recent sign-up was Parx Casino, a Bensalem, Pa.-based resort.
