iGaming operators risk losing out on the wealth of potential within Italy’s gaming industry if they fail to introduce secure, reliable payment options for players.
That’s according to Mark Sperring, Head of Sales and Account Management at MuchBetter, who – during a presentation at today’s SBC Digital Italy – broke down the reasons why cash vouchers are revolutionising player deposits.
Italy is one of Europe’s main sports betting and gaming regions and, as Sperring explained, has always presented a range of new opportunities for iGaming operators. However, the market has also posed a very unique challenge, most notably because of its preference for cash payments.
Keeping this challenge in mind, MuchBetter has debuted its Ricarica solution within the Italian market, allowing players to purchase cash vouchers from 15,000 points of sale across the country.
Customers can then make deposits within the MuchBetter app by using the Ricarica top-up option, allowing the customer to load the value of their voucher into a MuchBetter wallet which can subsequently be deposited with any operator that accepts MuchBetter as a payment method.
“MuchBetter is offering Italian customers an digital wallet they can top up with cash and deposit to a gaming merchant,” Sperring told SBC. “It also gives them a prepaid card for them to use online, in-store or at an ATM, in addition to NFC devices like its contactless key fob or Winwatch payments watch – neither of which require a card to use in-store.
“MuchBetter has an important role to play in the Italian market today. It offers Italian players a cash-based secure digital wallet for deposits, as well as giving them cash-based payment methods to use in all other aspects of their lives.
“Meanwhile, operators gain cash-based customers that use a secure and verified digital wallet from which they deposit at a fraction of the payment processing costs they pay to other cash-based providers. Alongside the added benefit of promoting their brand into channels, they might normally find harder to reach.
“MuchBetter believes its product and services are ideally placed to help Italian consumers and operators alike. It ensures operators see cash payments as an opportunity, not just a challenge, and it gives customers the best cash voucher user experience on the market.”
From an operator’s perspective, Sperring explained that MuchBetter offers a ‘unique commercial model by only applying processing fees ‘on the difference between customer deposits and withdrawals each month’, which typically equates to processing fees of 1-1.5%.
This model, explained the digital wallet provider, offers ‘an operator one of the most cost-effective payment methods’ on the market.
Sperring continued: “How the customer tops up their MuchBetter wallet has no bearing at all in how we charge our gaming operators. So, if a customer in Italy tops up their MuchBetter account with the cash voucher solution Ricarica, it makes no difference to the fees we charge our operators.
“The MuchBetter Card and Contactless fob also give our operators a unique branding opportunity. Operators can brand the Card and Fob with their own logo and send these out to their customers. The operator’s customers are then using their branded card and fob in channels where their brand might not typically reach.”
While cash may still be king in the Italian market, MuchBetter believes that its Ricarica solution can bring about sweeping changes to the way players deposit funds into their betting accounts.
