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Debit cards remain the preferred payment for online sports bettors, with 42% of bettors saying they use debit cards to fund their accounts, according to Paysafe Ltd.’s annual All the Ways Players Pay report. It is the third consecutive year debit ranked as bettor’s preferred payment method.
Digital wallets were the second most popular payment method with 38% of respondents using them. In the United States, digital wallets use was highest among bettors in New York (48%) and Florida (46%).
Credit cards trailed both debit cards and digital wallets as online bettors’ preferred payment method, with 24% of respondents saying they use them.
Paysafe surveyed 4,300 online sports bettors in six states (Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee), the province of Ontario, Canada, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The interviews were conducted online in November 2024.
Speed of payouts is highly valued attribute among online bettors. Some 42% of respondents say they expect instant or near-instant payouts. With real-time payments gaining momentum, 73% of respondents say they expect real-time payments expecting to become widespread within the next two years.
“Prioritizing real-time payments is a way for sportsbooks to elevate the player experience and secure a competitive advantage,” the report says.
Speed of payments also pays a big role in bettors’ choice of online sports books, with 34% citing the criteria as their top reason for choosing a site. Other criteria for choosing a sports book include brand trust (33%), rapid deposits (25%), availability of preferred payment methods (25%), promotions (24%), odds (24%), and the user experience (18%). Respondents could list more than one reason for selecting a sports book.
Online sports bettors also value transaction security with 41% saying they prioritize security in their payment experience.
“Payments are crucial for player acquisition and retention in every single market, but there can be no one-size-fits-all approach,” Zak Cutler, president of global gaming for Paysafe says in a statement. “Operators will only maximize conversions and minimize churn if they localize their cashiers and respond to player demand for an exhaustive range of payment options that balance transactional speed with security.”
In related news, Nuvei Corp. has launched an omnichannel payment platform for the U.K. gaming industry that allows gaming operators to manage all payment channels through a single application programming interface.
The new platform also provides analytics around player behavior across all channels, connectivity between the retail and digital gaming experiences, card tokenization across online and offline channels, and acceptance of local payment methods.
The new platform is expected to improve the ways U.K. gaming operators interact with bettors by breaking down the barriers between online and offline experiences so that more personalized and engaging player journeys can be created, Nuvei says.
