Russell Mifsud: Why Payments Are No Longer ‘Plumbing’ in Today’s High-Stakes iGaming Economy

From open banking to local options, KPMG’s Head of Gaming Europe argues payment design now drives onboarding economics, liquidity risk and player confidence.

+   Russel Mifsud, Director Head of Gaming Europe KPMG, pictured in GamblingIQ's annual payments magazine, 'Advancing the Game, 2026',

Payments in iGaming are often dismissed as plumbing, but Russell Mifsud believes that language is now out of date. In his latest Gaming Ledger column for GamblingIQ’s annual payments report, Advancing the Game 2026, the KPMG in Malta director says the function now sits at the centre of growth, player trust and regulatory scrutiny. “Payments is no longer a supporting function,” he writes. “It is now core infrastructure."

His main argument is simple enough: what happens at the cashier can make or break the whole business. Mifsud says payments decisions influence onboarding economics, fraud exposure, liquidity resilience and even whether a player stays or goes. In one market, he says, identical marketing traffic converted very differently once the routing of the payment changed. “When payments fail, the impact is immediate and obvious,” he notes. “When they work well, they’re invisible, but absolutely decisive.”

That is why open banking gets such strong treatment in his column. Mifsud argues operators that treat it merely as a cheaper card alternative miss the point. The real value lies in aligning payment data with early risk scoring, so that onboarding and payments architecture work together rather than against each other. He also says the same logic applies to instant payouts, which are now expected by players but can create hidden pressure on working capital and FX exposure if treasury is not involved from the start.

He is equally practical about the need to challenge onboarding economics. It is not enough to talk about conversion in isolation, he says. Operators need to understand the real cost of each payment method once chargebacks, compliance handling and operational effort are factored in. In some markets, he adds, stablecoins and tokenised settlement may help; in others, they are just distraction. “Does it solve a real commercial problem in your market? If not, it is distraction."

The Gaming Ledger column also makes a point of safer gambling. Mifsud says transaction data can provide early warning signals when spending behaviour changes, but only if payments are built into governance properly. His call is for clear ownership, auditability and an end-to-end view of who is responsible when things go wrong. That theme runs through the three KPMG in Malta figures featured in the column: Alex Azzopardi, Giselle Borg and Ryan Farrugia, each linked to risk, financial institutions and onboarding strategy.

The Payments Perspective: Pictured above are key voices leading the conversation on iGaming payments and strategy. From left; Russell Mifsud (Director, Head of Gaming Europe, KPMG), Giselle Borg (Partner, Risk Consulting Advisory Services, KPMG in Malta), Alex Azzopardi (Partner, Risk Consulting Advisory Services, KPMG in Malta), and Ryan Farrugia (Associate Director, Financial Institutions, KPMG in Malta)

In the end, Russell Mifsud's message is almost old-fashioned in its common sense. Payments are local, behaviour is local, and the winners will be the operators who stop treating the cashier as an afterthought. As he puts it, “Centralised governance with decentralised execution remains the most resilient model we see.”

>> Read 'Advancing the Game, 2026' from GamblingIQ: https://www.gamblingiq.co.uk/magazine-advancing-the-game-gambling-annual-payments-report-2026

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