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Merchants of all sorts found themselves converting to digital payments acceptance over the past two years in the face of the pandemic, but one niche in particular has offered a fertile field for merchant acquirers: casinos. Online and on-premise gambling has attracted payments providers large and small, including specialists like Sightline Payments. Late Thursday, Sightline said it will process transactions for Parx Casino’s Parx Wallet, the casino’s new digital app.
The Bensalem, Pa., resort offers 3,000 slot machines, almost 200 table games, and a poker room with 50 tables, according to information from the parties. Sightline, a specialist in casino payments, will work with casino-technology provider Light & Wonder Inc., which is supporting the Parx Wallet app, the parties say. Formerly known as Scientific Games, Light & Wonder in entertainment technology.
Gamblers can download the app to a smart phone and enroll in the casino’s loyalty program. Once enrolled, they can fund their gaming account via a debit card or other accounts. The account also features a Discover card that users can link to their winnings and use at any place that accepts Discover.
Las Vegas-based Sightline has proved to be an active payments specialist lately in the gambling sector. In June last year, the company agreed to support cashless betting at both slot machines and table games for a newly opened casino in its home town, Resorts World Las Vegas, which at the time was said to be the first casino in the city to offer cashless wagering.
In March, Sightline said it had chosen JPMorgan Payments as its primary merchant acquirer and processor for Sightline Play+, the technology adopted by Parx Casino. Play+ supports customer funding for sports betting, lotteries, and online and physical casinos. At the time, Play+ had more than 1.5 million accountholders.
Competition has heated up in the casino payments market in recent years, having led processors such as Paysafe Ltd., Shift4 Inc., and Montreal-based Nuvei Corp. to enter the market or expand their offerings in it. Developments such as the legalization by many states of sports betting have lent further momentum to the market.
