Sports betting and igaming markets across Latin America are opening up to international operators thanks to the spread of regulation, but in order to succeed, those businesses need to find the right localised payments solution.
There are few more important decisions for gambling operators in any market around the world than which payments systems to use. Player surveys consistently find that, in the online sector, ease of deposit and speed of withdrawals are among the most important factors in customer satisfaction.
The message from those findings is clear; get the payments set-up right and you can expect long-term customer loyalty, but get it wrong and you’ll see those expensively-acquired players slide over to the competition.
Speed and user experience are only two of the factors operators need to consider when selecting their payment provider for each individual market. There’s also regulation, security, the most popular payment methods, internet penetration, and KYC, AML, fraud and responsible gambling compliance to look at.
All these issues are multiplied for multinational operators with customers in a range of territories, as each market has its own regulatory and legal regime to work within, while levels of financial inclusion and consumer payment habits vary hugely from country to country.
In Latin America, the differences can be much greater than those between Europe’s established regulated markets. For example, 49% of transactions in Peru are paid for in cash, while the figure is just 18% in Argentina and 15% in Colombia.
If you are a global operator attracted by the emerging opportunities in Buenos Aires, Peru, Chile and Brazil, or perhaps a native operator from Mexico, Colombia or Costa Rica looking to expand into new territories, a payments partner with in-depth local knowledge can prove invaluable.
Making deposits simple for Latin American bettors
There are many intricacies related to deposits, withdrawals and compliance for gambling operators across Latin America, but they are not insurmountable issues. Whether a business is targeting just one country in the region, or wishes to grow into multiple territories, partnering with a payment processor with hands-on experience of those nations can help to ease market entry.
PayRetailers is a specialist in Latin American markets and works with scores of ecommerce, marketplace and ticketing businesses, along with betting and gaming operators in the region. This experience has allowed the company to develop an in-depth knowledge of what it takes to run fast and customer-friendly payments operations in 12 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru.
As a result of this specialist knowledge, the PayRetailers platform delivers numerous benefits for operators looking to launch in both established Latin American jurisdictions and the ones currently moving towards regulation.
Perhaps the biggest of these is that a single integration connects the operator with 250 integrated payment solutions, including banks, PSPs, e-wallets, wire solutions and country-specific APMs. The selection of payment methods is aligned with the most widely used in each of the 12 markets and features everything from major credit cards and other must-haves, such as Pix in Brazil and SPEI® in Mexico, to widely-available cash options.
As a result, players are presented with a selection of familiar ways to place bets in their local currency, including cash, cards and QR codes. This reduces the number of potential bettors effectively excluded because of an inability to make deposits and withdraw funds, which in turn helps to improve conversion rates and maximise the return on the operator’s player acquisition spend.
More payment methods are added on a regular basis without the need for further integration. This enables the operator to keep pace with changing trends as digitisation continues to spread through Latin American countries, and more people gain access to non-cash methods to make a deposit and collect their winnings.
Reduced friction and increased efficiency
While creating the optimal user experience by minimising friction around sign-up and deposits is a top priority for all gambling operators, it is not the only factor when choosing a payments processing partner. PayRetailers has also considered the back office needs of the operator, such as ease of integration, security and reporting.
The API is flexible, robust and designed for swift integration into online or mobile applications, reducing the time required for operators to create a localised sportsbook and casino offering for markets in Latin America. Once a test account has been set up, the operator’s technical team can choose from a single paywall integration solution, a custom dynamic method calling approach, or direct integration, all backed by support from PayRetailers’ experts.
Once live, the platform offers the ability to optimise authentication rates and reduce fees by using smart routing of transactions to the most suitable PSP, and implement automated settlement and reconciliation workflows in local currencies.
It also benefits from a host of security features designed to protect customer data, minimise the risk of fraud, and allow responsible gambling strategies such as deposit limits to be used. State-of-the-art technologies including EMV, PCI-validated P2PE, tokenization, the ability to apply the 4-eyes principle to control payouts, and a machine learning-driven risk engine all come as standard.
Finally, as all licensed gambling operators know, record keeping and reporting is crucial for regulatory compliance purposes. The PayRetailers system offers a full analytics suite that allows customisable and real-time reporting in a single interface, making it as user-friendly for payments and compliance professionals as it is for bettors.
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PayRetailers is exhibiting at SBC Summit Latinoamérica, the leading conference and trade show for the sports betting and igaming industry in Latin America, which takes place at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on 1-3 November 2022. Find the team at booth B18 or contact them here to find out more about the PayRetailers platform.
