Top Ten
In the ever-evolving gambling industry, gaming companies rely on a diverse array of service providers to navigate the complex ecosystem. From fundamental necessities like payment gateways, anti-fraud specialists, affiliates, and content management systems, to crucial support areas such as digital identity and data management, card processing, game studios, consumer protection, cloud hosting, digital wallets, cryptocurrency integration, game testing, and regulatory compliance - Gambling IQ meticulously compiles lists of the Top Ten most prominent service providers in each category.
Open Banking Payments Engines
From the digital hubs of Stockholm and London to the bustling scene in Singapore, and the proven pedigree of fabulous Las Vegas, Gambling IQ traverses the globe to spotlight the premier Open Banking enabled Payments engines in the gambling industry. The top 4 vendors are notable for merging PIS (Payment Initiation Services) and AIS (Account Information Services) to create a secure, affordable, and efficient payment landscape for players and iGaming operators alike. Selecting vendors can be challenging. Here, GamblingIQ provides the definitive guide to the top ten companies in this space and explains why they offer potential positive change with their technologies, investors, company objectives, market penetration, and innovation leadership at the management level.
1.
TRUSTLY
In its 15-year history as an Open Banking trailblazer, Swedish company Trustly stands out as the foremost provider of account-to-account payments in iGaming. The Stockholm-headquartered firm recently unveiled Azura, an advanced data engine promising a more personalised payment experience, already live in 8 of its markets. The company owns and manages its entire infrastructure, leading to unmatched uptime and reliability. Trustly's dominance is evident in strategic manoeuvres orchestrated by its adept management team. Recent key developments include the €70 million acquisition of French fintech SlimPay in January this year; a partnership with BNY Mellon to launch Bankify in September 2023, an expansion into the Netherlands with the industry-defining player onboarding flow Pay N Play, and a substantial deal with crypto giant Coinbase, marking the firm’s entry into Canada. While a USD$9 billion flotation was postponed in 2021, market speculation hints at Trustly eyeing an IPO in 2025. With a global workforce of over 900 employees, the company is projected to report revenues of around $250 million for 2023.
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2.
TRUELAYER
Founded in 2016 by Italian duo Francesco Simoneschi & Luca Martinetti, the London-based unicorn commands over 30% of Open Banking traffic in the UK. Clients include global brands and industry leaders such as Flutter and William Hill, who partnered with TrueLayer to offer instant pay-ins and payouts in November 2023. The company also offers solutions through major iGaming platforms such as Bragg Group; other partners include PaymentIQ and Nuvei. The company has 95% bank coverage in the UK, Ireland, Finland, Netherlands and further afield, while it continues to deliver exceptional performance in transaction monitoring, encompassing security, risk management and fraud detection. In December 2023, it announced its collaboration with Lunar in order to optimise the overall payment landscape in the regions of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Now with a global workforce, it has completed several funding rounds amassing an impressive USD$271 million, attracting notable investors such as Connect Ventures, Anthemis Group, Northzone, Tencent, Temasek, Tiger Global and Stripe.
3.
PLAID
Vlued at around $13 billion, Plaid was founded by William Hockey and Zach Perret in 2013, and encompasses 12,000+ institutions and fintechs. Remarkably, 1 in 3 US consumers with a bank account has utilised Plaid, which connects to over 2,300 banks in Europe. It serves fintech companies and developers in 31 European countries. Currently, more than 8,000+ companies including PokerStars, Coinbase, Kraken, and Square rely on Plaid to streamline customer connections and payments from current accounts. With offices spanning London, Amsterdam, San Francisco, New York, Salt Lake City, and Toronto, and a workforce of over 1,250 employees, it stands as a global Open Banking powerhouse. The company has secured $735 million in venture funding from the likes of Goldman Sachs, Citi Ventures, American Express Ventures, Mastercard, and Visa. Notable technology partners include Unit, Sila, Dwolla, Marqeta, Checkout, Nuvei, and Mollie with distribution channels in Fintech Sandbox, MaRs and IBM.
4.
PAYSAFE / SKRILL
Paysafe’s 'Pay by Bank' proposition is built with online gambling in mind. As a Paysafe product, it ensures swift, secure, and hassle-free transactions for both merchants and customers. The challenge for medium to small iGaming operators is pinpointing the appropriate assistance in this huge conglomerate. Still, Paysafe’s solution empowers merchants to offer seamless online payment experiences, integrating with more than 200 banks across Europe. Paysafe has also upgraded the Skrill digital wallet and supports instant deposits and fast payout speeds. It has also unveiled a U.S. VIP player programme for the upgraded Skrill wallet, which enables higher payment volumes for qualified VIP players, strengthening operators’ engagement with the coveted VIP segment. With more than 20 years of experience, an annual transaction volume of over $130 billion, and approximately 3,300 employees located in 12+ countries, Paysafe connects business and consumers across more than 100 payment types in over 40 currencies. Impressively, it has seen over $1.5 billion in wallet deposits.
5.
MiFINITY
Now the iGaming industry's fastest-growing payment service provider, MiFINITY holds dual licenses enabling its services in 225 countries and territories. It has achieved remarkable global expansion over the past 12 months. Introducing an instant bank transfer service, powered by the Volt platform, the company is positioned to thrive in the increasingly competitive gambling industry. MiFINITY Affiliates, offering up to 35% revenue commission, has emerged as a notable success in attracting numerous brands. In January 2024, the company surpassed 750,000 active customer accounts, mostly iGaming. This substantial increase in customer sign-ups is linked to the MiFINITY eWallet, known for its smooth and fast payment process. The company is universally recognised as one of the best Cross-Border Payments services in the world, with PayAnyBank now servicing 128 Countries. Its global iGaming customers use the Wallet at any of the MiFINITY merchants' sites, currently over 650 live brands. Additionally, they can also send money to almost anywhere globally with instant eWallet to eWallet transfers and via money transfer. Players can also purchase MiFINITY eVouchers from a vast network of global online distributors.
6.
GOCARDLESS
The fiscal year ending June 2023 will likely see GoCardless' revenue reaching over $100 million. It will be interesting to learn if the firm has effectively managed its losses after shedding $7.78 million in the 12 months to June 2022. The Alphabet-backed London-headquartered unicorn cut 135 roles last summer, but maintains a similar headcount to Trustly, boasting a total workforce of about 800. In its most recent Series G funding round in February 2022, the payments firm raised $312 million, securing a $2.1 billion valuation. Word on the street is that GoCardless will now enter the profitable iGaming market in a serious way, and with backers like GV, BlackRock, and Permira, it commands respect. Founded in 2011 by Hiroki Takeuchi, Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield, and Matt Robinson, the company currently processes over $35 billion in payments across 30 countries. Following the acquisition of Nordigen in July 2022, it has successfully merged Payment Initiation Service (PIS) and Account Information Service (AIS).
7.
BRANKAS
Brankas is the leading Open Finance technology provider in Southeast Asiaand is headed for substantial growth as the iGaming market opens up in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Founded in 2016 by Todd Schweitzer and Kenneth Shaw, it is experiencing a year-over-year growth rate of 300%. Now with over 100 employees, the company last raised USD$20 million in Series B funding from Visa, Insignia Ventures Partners, Beenext, Integra Partners, AFG Partners, and Treasury International. Brankas recently acquired both the Payment Service Provider (PJP) Category 3 License from Bank Indonesia and the Operator of Payment Systems (OPS) Registration from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
8.
PRAXIS TECH
Cyprus-based fintech Praxis Tech launched in 2014 with its flagship product - Cashier. With over 650 supported brands and 200+ active clients, Gambling IQ understands the company surpassed $4 billion in approved transaction volume in 2023. Notably, Praxis Tech recently collaborated with game developer SoftGamings, providing operators with Merchant Initiated Transaction (MIT) capabilities and other innovative features. MIT enables One-Click Payments and introduces a decline recovery protocol, ensuring operators can recuperate lost revenue from declined transactions. SoftGamings’ operators gain access to Praxis’ extensive suite of pre-integrated Payment Service Providers (PSPs), totaling over 525 solutions. Praxis' integration with Nuapay's proprietary Open Banking technology and instant cardless payment solutions is now accessible to all European customers.
9.
SIGHTLINE PAY
The Las Vegas outfit is rumoured to be muscling in on the UK markets in the second half of 2024 and has the experience to make an impact. A leading provider of next-generation commerce solutions, Sightline delivers cashless, mobile and omnichannel custom commerce programs to almost 200 gaming resort operators, state lotteries, digital gaming and sports betting sites across 40+ states in the U.S. Sightline customers include MGM Resorts, Caesars Resorts, and Hard Rock Hotel and Casino; the Oregon and Pennsylvania state lotteries; Churchill Downs; as well as Golden Nugget online; and DraftKings, FanDuel, William Hill, and Rush Street sports, among others. Just over one year ago, J.P. Morgan invested in Sightline for an integrated omnichannel solution, with representatives from the bank stating that industry-specific contextual software is critical to powering any payments ecosystem to create an engaging consumer experience.
10.
TINK
In 2021, Visa acquired Tink, a Swedish-founded fintech, for $2.1 billion. Boasting over 6,000 connections to banks across 19 European markets, Tink is a payment services and data enrichment platform. The company specialises in account-to-account payments, onboarding new users, and creating engaging money management tools, including data solutions that support customers' income, affordability, and risk decision processes, facilitating swift and accurate digital customer flows. Leveraging features like Income Check and Expense Check, Tink enhances and categorises transaction data, empowering its customers to establish reasonable limits based on past financial behaviour. Additionally, Tink's Balance Check product offers up-to-date insight into users' current available balances.
Digital Identity Vendors
Expanding use cases for affordability, age estimation, data security, re-verification of betting transactions, geo-confirm and anti-fraud is spawning Digital ID growth in the gambling industry. The UK & global vendor market for digital identity driven financial risk and age verification proofing is growing exponentially, with both global and regional solutions available for all betting operators. Selecting vendors can be challenging. Here, GamblingIQ provides the definitive guide to the top ten Digital ID vendors and explain why they offer potential positive change with their technologies, financial backers, company objectives, market penetration and grow - the prospect mapping, in addition to innovation leadership at the CEO level.
1.
PERSONA
The US company has strong innovation leadership, led by a dynamic duo: 32-year-old CEO Rick Song, a former Square engineer, and 30-year-old CTO Charles Yeh, who previously served as the technical lead at Dropbox. Notably, Square partnered with Persona to provide tens of thousands of small business owners quick access to forgivable loans in the US. With backing from the prestigious Founders Fund and $217.5 million in total investments from investors like Index Ventures, Meritech Capital, and Coatue Management, the company now boasts a valuation of $1.5 billion. Persona is now targeting the lucrative gambling and gaming market, powered by its cutting-edge Graph product and best-in-class age verification system. What sets Persona apart is its ability to customise verification processes, doubling conversion rates and offering a wide array of verification options. Their superior tech stack and biometric player re-verification capabilities are especially crucial for the betting sector. Persona currently provides identity verification tools to prominent companies such as Square, Coursera and Robinhood. The Graph product stands out for its automatic clustering fraud prevention capabilities.
2.
SIGNZY
Featuring AI-enabled Video KYC, (which promotes compliance and accelerates the onboarding process & time-to-market by 5x), the superior tech stack of the New York and India-based Signzy warrants its no. 2 ranking. Given its extensive digital banking infrastructure experience, the company is well-placed to take the lead on enhanced financial risk and affordability checks within the gambling industry. Its V-KYC (V-CIP), was conceived as a direct response to the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) progressive regulations around video KYC to improve compliance, verification and combat fraud. V-KYC assumes a pivotal role as global gambling commissions enhance safety protocols on self-exclusion, with gambling operators combatting fraud, underage participation, and problem gambling interlinked with financial liabilities. With over 300 employees and CEO Ankit Rantan showing strong innovation leadership - and having just raised $26 million from Gaja Capital and returning investors, Vertex Venturesand Arkam Ventures, in a Series B - Signzy is well on its way to disrupting the gambling & gaming industry.
3.
YOTI
After bootstrapping itself with some £128m in funding from its multimillionaire serial founders and HNWI over the last eight years, Yoti finally took some institutional money about 18 months ago. Robin Tombs and Noel Hayden, the company's co-founders, exited online gambling company Gamesys for £2bn in 2021, netting the pair an estimated £500m. So it's no surprise that Yoti has its finger on the digital identity and gambling pulse. Recent capital injection comes with a new enterprise valuation of around £180m - the caveat being that Tombs and Hayden have helped to set that valuation from both sides of the table. Later this year, Yoti plans to raise a Series B round - likely around £20m - from strategic investors. In the 12 months to March 31st 2022, the company had revenues of £3.2m, making a loss of £21m. The firm is bouncing back with revenues FYE 2023 of £6.2m.
4.
GBG Plc
With over 1,250 people across 18 countries and a HQ in Chester, UK, GB Group (GBG), has scaled rapidly in North America with a $300m cash acquisition of IDology in 2019, followed by a £547m swoop for Acuant in 2021. The London-listed digital identity specialist had revenues of £242m to March 31st 2022, but made a loss before tax of £118.8m in the last financial year, writing off £122m of intangible assets. A potential £1.3bn American private equity takeover of GBG ended last September when Chicago-based GTCR tried to make a cash offer. GBG has a stellar gaming client book including Betfair, Betway, Ladbrokes and William Hill in the UK under the 888 brand. Part of the company's mission in gambling is to, 'Stop minors from creating accounts and accessing content with robust and reliable age verification checks as part of a seamless experience for those good players'. Apart from its age verification screening tools, GBG has a robust affordability solution, which identifies potential markers of harm, including bad debt and bankruptcy. It has customers across more than 70 countries.
5.
ONFIDO
Established in 2012 by three Oxford University alumni with £30k in seed capital, the company haemorrhaged $28.5m in April for violating the US Biometric Information Privacy Act. It has a team of 580 and recently partnered with Soft2Bet. Potentially lining up for an IPO, Onfido has genuine clients in Draft Kings, MegaBet and William Hill in the USA, (the brand was acquired by Caesars Entertainment in April 2021, who then sold the European business to 888 Holdings for £2.2 billion). Revenue for a 13-month period ending January 2022 was £95m, (in contrast to £45m in 2021). Its gross profit for the current period stands at £67m, alongside an operating loss of £45m. Onfido has secured over £156m in total funding, but it's last raise was in 2020. It has some notable investors like Microsoft, Salesforce, and SBI (formerly a SoftBank affiliate), and they've completed a funding round led by TPG Growth, the same firm backing Airbnb and Uber. The firm's 'Real Identity Platform' encompasses document, biometric, and data verification, which reduces fraud and maximises conversion rates. This includes Motion (anti-spoofing facial biometrics), and Atlas (an anti-fraud AI bot, amongst other things).
6.
VERIFF
Estonian-based company has an AI-powered, video-first approach to ID. It raised £83million in Series C financing in 2022, co-led by Tiger Global and Alkeon, joining existing investors IVP and Accel. That round brought Veriff’s total funding to just over £166 million and took its valuation to £1.24 billion. Not immune to the tech slowdown, the company laid off 12% of its staff in 2023 but still has upwards of 400 employees. It has the popular Stake.com as a client and has signed with gaming companies like Rebillion and Gibraltar-based Crucial Compliance. Popular with gaming companies like Rebillion, Stake.com and Crucial Compliance, which helps companies build responsible betting models, as well as financial services providers like Monzo, Blockchain.com, and Wise. The company recently received a $4m fine for violating the US Biometric Information Privacy Act.
7.
JUMIO
In February 2023, Italy-based online gambling operator Sisal adopted Jumio’s end-to-end ID verification solution for operations across Italy, Morocco, and Turkey. The company is using Jumio’s tech to verify the age and identity of new customers during the onboarding process. With HQ in Sunnyvale, California, Jumio raised $150 million in 2021, from private equity firm Great Hill Partners, who joined earlier investors Centana and Millennium. The company counts gambling software giant Playtech as one of its partners and surpassed $200 million in bookings in 2022 for its selfie biometrics. It quietly laid off around 6% of its workforce, (around 90 people) in January 2023 and currently has almost 1,450 employed. Its online gambling credentials are unquestionably strong and it continues to service Malta-based online casino and sports books Novibet and Casumo.
8.
SUMSUB
A leader in Proof of Address (PoA) checks, essential in crypto, trading, gambling, and other prominent digital industries. Additionally, the London firm now supports over 14,000 types of identity documents, double their previous number of 6,500. This investment in expanding their database of supported documents will enable more users and groups to access online services. The Sumsub platform provides options for instant geo-based verification and address checks via global government databases. It counts Betmaster, CopyBet and software provider Upgaming in its client list and is one to watch in the next year.
9.
AU10TIX
Nasdaq-traded NeoGames (NGMS), and its B2B igaming subsidiary Aspire Global are clients. This includes BtoBet, a leading B2B provider of sports betting solutions to Tier 1 operators. The new partnership also includes US firm NeoPollard, which means the firm's iLottery and iGaming market presence is expanding. The company's selfie biometric authentication service is being used by online gaming firm Genesis Global and PayU. Having prevented over USD$700 million in fraud-related losses, it has joined the Age Verification Providers Association, (US). Founded by brothers Brothers Ron and Gil Atzmon, (70% stake of the business).
10.
VERIDAS
Founded in 2017, this Spanish company has a Gartner-recognised 'Phygital Identity Platform', and is headquartered in a hotbed of gambling and can therefore make a special contribution to taking the lead in combatting problem gambling. With revenues of over £5million last year, one of its founding partners is the Spanish bank BBVA which carried out a financing round of just over £3.5million. Recent data seen by Gambling IQ suggests that the Veridas facial recognition is already minimising fraud and identity theft online.