With U.S. operators expecting unprecedented handle from the soccer tournament, Paysafe’s Zak Cutler argues that a robust cashier will future-proof brands for what’s next
This week, the World Cup returns to U.S. soil for the first time since PASPA’s 2018 repeal saw the emergence of regulated sports betting. With 30+ states now permitting online wagering, the tournament is expected to make new records. Eilers & Krejcik Gaming forecast U.S. online sports-betting handle of $2.82bn, around triple their estimate for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The tournament will be an indisputable opportunity for sportsbooks to acquire new customers, including many first-time bettors. The brands that ‘win’ the side-competition between operators – maximizing player conversion and, beyond that, retention – will have optimized cashiers to meet increasingly diverse payment preferences.
Soccer in the States and a surge in new bettors
Traditionally, North American sports leagues have dominated fans’ spectator preferences. The times, however, appear to be changing, with soccer recently taking baseball’s position in the ‘Big Three’ of U.S. sports. While American football remains fans’ firm favorite (36%), followed by basketball (17%), soccer (10%) is now more popular than both baseball (9%) and hockey (4%), according to 2024 research from The Economist.
This cultural change has combined with the widespread legality of online and mobile sportsbetting, including a majority of states hosting World Cup matches (New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, and Pennsylvania). The result? The tournament’s U.S. return is fertile ground for local operators’ player acquisition.
For our annual ‘All the Ways Players Pay’ research report in the countdown to the World Cup, Paysafe surveyed U.S. consumers planning to follow the tournament and discovered 62% intended to bet online on matches. Fans in major markets were even more bullish on wagering, especially in New York (77% expect to bet) and New Jersey (65%).
But what was even more remarkable was the number of fans planning to bet for the first time ever, with three out of 10 fans (29%) being newbies. In New York, almost half of consumers intending to bet would be first timers (47%), with this cohort also strongly represented in Kansas (31%), and New Jersey (28%).
Frictionless payments to convert bettors
The betting surge represents a major acquisition opportunity for sportsbooks, though the huge potential volumes of first-time bettors mean that the transactional experience will likely make or break a brand’s conversion efforts. With many World Cup fans completely new to funding wagers, any payment issues will likely see a potential customer desert a sportsbook before they’ve even made their first bet.
Our research indicates that fans intending to bet will invariably be prioritizing payment factors when they evaluate which sportsbook they’ll choose for the tournament. While brand reputation is their top factor (prioritized by 40%), payment solutions supporting seamless payouts is their second most important consideration (33%).
Likewise, while odds (prioritized by 32%) and a sportsbook’s promotions and sign-up offers (24%) are crucial in bettors’ selection process, they’re rivalled by other payment factors. On a par with promos, around a quarter (24%) prioritize frictionless deposits and a fifth (20%) their favorite payment method being offered at the cashier.
But what will be fans’ preferred payment methods for the tournament? The answer is increasingly complex. Although debit cards are favored by half of Americans (50%), digital wallets like Paysafe’s Skrill solution are today a popular alternative (38%), as are bank transfers (32%), especially with the growing popularity of open-banking solutions like our Pay by Bank product.
And operators cannot ignore niche payment solutions. After all, 28% of Americans planning to bet on the World Cup favor local payment methods (LPMs) like Venmo as a transactional preference. Even with cash declining, 17% of fans still prefer eCash products like PaysafeCash, trending even higher in Florida (27%) and New Jersey (26%).
Player retention during the tournament and beyond
With the World Cup featuring a record-breaking 104 matches before the final on July 19 in New Jersey, converting players is only half the battle. New bettors are unsurprisingly very sensitive to transactional friction, and so it’s essential that the payment experience is impeccable or a sportsbook risks churn.
And it’s not just newbies that can be fickle when a payment goes awry – it’s pretty much all bettors. Over nine out of 10 fans (93%) reveal they would abandon a sportsbook after a bad transactional experience during the tournament. New Jersey bettors appear to be particularly unforgiving (97% would switch books), with New Yorkers not far behind (95%).
The sportsbooks that have prioritized upgrading their cashiers – including a comprehensive range of alternative payment methods if there are transactional issues with a player’s first choice – will have helped to future-proof their brands against churn. Ultimately, if a new bettor enjoys a satisfactory payment experience with a book for the World Cup, they will likely stay onboard for the start of the European soccer leagues’ new seasons in late August and the American football season’s kickoff soon after.
More broadly, it will be fascinating to see if the World Cup is more than just a milestone for the U.S. online sports-betting market. With a flood of new bettors, could the tournament mark the transformation of wagering into mainstream American entertainment? Much depends on operators’ own performance – and, of course, on their cashiers.
Paysafe will be exhibiting at Stand 734 of the SBC Summit Americas in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from June 9-11.
