Digital payments meet gaming

As mobile and contactless payments expand, consumers expect safe and convenient ways to send and receive money in all types environments. Payment technology providers aren't missing a beat in addressing this need, as evidenced by exhibits at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas.

Exhibits and educational sessions at the Venetian Expo confirmed that digital payments, which have expanded across nearly all industries worldwide, are even making inroads in gaming, a rapidly growing sector that has continued to rely heavily on cash.

Mastercard's Timothy Montgomery explains the progress of P2P payments to NRT Technology's Nasr Sattar and AptPay's Sham Syed at the Global Gaming Expo.

"Over the last 18 months, we have seen some of the most drastic shifts and changes in consumer payments behaviors," Timothy Montgomery, senior vice president of digital partnerships at Mastercard, said during an education session at the gaming expo. "We've seen wholesale secular shifts to digital payments.

"Every major retail sector has increased their share of e-commerce payments by 10-plus percentage," Montgomery said. "It's amazing."

In addition to the shift to contactless and mobile payments, consumers are also migrating to peer-to-peer digital payment platforms that allow them to move funds into and out of their bank accounts, instantly.

Mastercard steps forward

To move money into these P2P applications — such as Venmo and Square Cash — which allow users to move money between a mobile account and a bank account, Mastercard recently introduced its Mastercard Send service that enables consumers to instantly disburse funds to their checking account using a prepaid debit card.

Instead of the typical two to three days for a P2P payment or cash balance transfer to a bank account, the Mastercard Send enables the transfer within seconds to the consumer's bank account via their debit card. The service uses a single API connection to all U.S. consumer debit cards.

While the gaming sector has continued to rely heavily on cash, Montgomery said it has taken the lead in addressing the migration to digital payments via e-sports, fantasy sports and sports betting.

The education session, "Betting On Faster Payments: The Future Of Digital Payments," underscored the changes taking place in financial technology that impact not only gaming, but other sectors.

Instant funding for spending

Much of the discussion focused on a newly unveiled service called "smartsend" that uses Mastercard Send to send funds instantly to a bank account, prepaid card or mobile wallet.

While several gaming services companies demonstrated digital payment tools during the gaming expo, NRT Technology, a hardware and software provider, demonstrated smartsend at a self-service kiosk on the trade show floor. In developing smartsend, NRT Technology teamed with AptPay, a fintech processor.

The partners created smartsend to allow casinos and online gaming sites to instantly disburse winnings to a player's bank account, prepaid card or mobile wallet.

The key difference between smartsend and other disbursements solutions is that the service is available 24/7, including evenings and weekends, AptPay stated in an October announcement.

"Being able to transact within seconds and knowing that there's the highest level of security in a transaction is something you can't replace," Nasr Sattar, senior vice president of innovation at NRT Technology, said during the education session. "The transaction is truly safe and secure."

"This is a rail that didn't exist a day ago, and that's a big moment," he said.

Applications beyond gaming

As such, the technology has application in settings other than gaming.

"The technology can be applied in many, many other places as well," Shams Syed, CEO of AptPay, said during the education session. For example, a business can use the service to disburse payments to employees.

"As long as that patron has a bank account, they have the ability to receive funds instantly," he said.

Security paramount

The panelists agreed that not all services are equally fast and reliable.

NRT Technology and AptPay chose to work with Mastercard for its speed and security, said Sattar.

To ensure the transactions are secure, various technology players have introduced services to monitor transactions to identify "bad actors" in the ecosystem, Montgomery said.

One area where the gaming sector has an advantage over some in embracing digital payment technology is that its regulatory compliance standards are well established, Sattar said.

Expo showcases digital payment innovation

Meanwhile, other gaming services companies introduced digital payment tools during the gaming expo.

Global Payments introduced its VIP Mobility, a mobile app that allows guests to create digital tickets on their mobile device by scanning an existing voucher or using their VIP e-check account.

The user pairs his or her mobile device to any game at any location by scanning a QR code, allowing them to reload from their phone and review funds when they finish playing. The guest can also pay for non-game retail purchases.

Everi Holdings Inc. introduced its CashClub wallet, a mobile wallet that allows guests the option of cashless and contactless funding of game play, including funding at the gaming device, as well as payments at the point of sale or online to fund sports betting or social gaming.

Konami Gaming introduced a cashless gaming solution through its recent partnership with Sightline Payments. Konami Gaming's Sinkros casino management system now allows players to use a digital login at games to access their cashless wallet which they can fund through Sightline's Play+ solution.

International Gaming Technologies Inc. introduced its Resort Wallet, a cashless wallet for users' gaming and retail needs for card and cardless transactions.

Once the user enrolls in a casino's loyalty club, they can create a cashless account which they can fund at the cash desk, machine or bank transfer. They can then use their player's card or mobile account to spend money. When finished, they can transfer credits back into the cashless account.

The company's Resort Wallet and IGTPay modules of the IGT Advantage casino management system was named "Product Innovation of the Year" at the expo.

"We (gaming) need to be safe, seamless and secure," Montgomery of Mastercard said during the education session.