Companies are operating in a digital-first world, and this trend is only expected to continue with technological advancements, the opening of new markets, and the increasing ease of access to the internet and mobile platforms. Filippos Antonopoulos, founder and CEO of the specialized company OKTO, shares the company's insights on the constantly changing landscape of global payments and also analyzes the situation in Brazil.
In this context, ensuring smooth online transactions should be a top priority – in the view of Filippos Antonopoulos, founder and CEO of digital payments specialist OKTO, it is one of the top three decision-making factors.
"One of the top three decision-making factors"
On the eve of the SBC Summit Lisbon, where OKTO will have a significant presence, including at the Payment Expert Summit, Antonopoulos reflects on the company's experience in the modern payment ecosystem and the demands imposed on it, with a special focus on the iGaming sector.
“The speed and efficiency of payments, especially withdrawals, have historically been ranked as one of the top three decision-making factors in choosing a gaming operator,” he says. “Not only is a wide range of options necessary, but by 2025 this range will also need to have very high service quality and efficiency.”
Technological progress and innovation have made the range of payment methods available to businesses broader than ever – this is not an opinion, it's a simple fact. It is also a fact that betting and gaming companies cannot afford to ignore.
The betting industry is highly competitive, housing several companies of different sizes, from small independent bookmakers to large conglomerates that span multiple brands and are active on several continents.
To differentiate from the competition, ensuring a varied choice of payment methods for customers is very valuable for building customer loyalty. Ensuring that transactions are carried out seamlessly and efficiently, particularly with withdrawals, is the finishing touch.
The gaming market is not just a competitive business, but also a dynamic one. Many companies are active in two different domains – retail, mainly through betting shops and casinos, and online. The last decade has seen operators seeking to bridge the gap between retail and online payments, achieving an efficient omnichannel experience.
“The practical answer is that they need a payment account, in the form of a digital wallet, to pivot into a multichannel offering,” comments Antonopoulos. “That said, the challenge lies in the various integrations between gaming systems, and specifically in ensuring that these integrations are subordinate to the user journey.”
Overcoming the Digital Divide
Digitalization is a process that has touched all aspects of life, a process that was significantly accelerated during the covid-19 pandemic. The impact this has had on payments is clear and widely discussed, and the gaming sector has also felt these changes.
For an industry that for many years was dominated by physical operations – the numerous street bookmakers active throughout the UK and the large casinos of Las Vegas are perhaps the most obvious examples – it would be easy to think that digitalization posed a challenge for traditional retail betting customers.
In Antonopoulos's view, this is the opposite. If anything, he believes, it is the customers who have most embraced digitalization. Operators need to meet this need and ensure that their customers are not left behind.
“I think it's the traditional retail operators who are creating obstacles for their already digitalized retail customers,” he says. “These obstacles have to do with the slow adoption and broad implementation of digital payments in the physical ecosystem.”
Obstacles can be found in the betting payment journey in various ways. It is up to both operators and payment technology providers to identify the most urgent issues and find ways to resolve them. Identifying potential advantages and improvements in this journey is also crucial.
KYC as part of the payment experience has a great influence on it, explains Filippos, citing “positive aspects in compliance, and negatives in user experience.”
Likewise, recent years have seen various technologies, solutions, and practices leave their mark on the payment landscape. Open Banking, Artificial Intelligence, embedded finance, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain are just a few of the most widely known examples.
Antonopoulos cites centralized account-to-account (A2A) banking systems as a development with ‘extremely positive effects’. Staying at the forefront of innovation, OKTO has introduced both Open Banking and A2A payments into its offering.
He explains: “We are actively seeking and introducing Open Banking and A2A payment methods into our gateway and our digital wallet in as many jurisdictions as possible. At the same time, we are investing in the emerging trend of payment orchestration.”
A Vision for Brazil
Citing a highly anticipated gaming market as an example of the growing importance of A2A payments, he adds: “For example, one cannot tell the story of the growth of iGaming in Brazil without also telling the story of Pix.”
The long wait for Brazil to regulate a national betting market is almost over. The market launch is expected by the end of the year, and the new betting regulator of the country has received numerous requests from potential license holders.
The opportunity for payments in Brazil is as big as the gaming opportunity. OKTO has been actively working to establish its presence in the market, seeking to position itself as a leading payment provider for the growing iGaming industry of the country.
Companies have many factors to consider. Above all, Filippos hopes to see a “healthy balance between cost and operational excellence, and a viable minimum proposition when it comes to local payments.”
He continues: “Moreover, ensuring that there is a balance between payment technology and bank settlements, especially when these are dictated by local regulation and tax considerations.”
As the betting market in Brazil develops, it is up to all stakeholders to ensure that social responsibility remains at the forefront.
This is a task that will involve, of course, the bookmakers themselves, but also the companies that provide them with solutions, the country's betting regulator, and the Central Bank of Brazil, operator of the widely used Pix network, which will be the main payment method used for gaming transactions by Brazilians.
After the launch, the founder and CEO of OKTO believes there will be a "great challenge for the regulator and the central bank in further unifying the two sectors in promoting responsibility, responsible growth, for the gaming industry."
“Now it's not just about payments, but also banking and compliance,” he summarizes.
The Global Vision of OKTO
While it is a market that has attracted the attention of numerous stakeholders in betting and payments, and rightly so, Brazil is not the only country on OKTO's agenda. The multinational company has been expanding its solutions worldwide, from its founding market in Greece to emerging financial markets like India.
As the fifth largest economy in the world, India hosts growing banking and technology industries, but often does not receive the same attention as other prominent financial markets such as the USA, Western Europe, Japan, and China, to name a few.
When asked whether the fintech potential of India has been overlooked by some stakeholders, Antonopoulos responds: “We certainly see proportionally fewer international stakeholders in India than we expected, and therefore, I think the answer is yes.
“That said, I think India has also been overlooked by stakeholders in the gaming sector, with the caveat of the limited range of products that are legal and regulated in this vast market. OKTO bets that this divergence will be closed in the next two to three years.”
From its position as a prominent provider of international payment solutions, OKTO has been able to make some insightful observations about conditions in smaller markets. Noting big differences between continents and neighboring countries, Antonopoulos concludes that "product-market fit comes first, and this also applies to payments."
“What OKTO tries to do is get that right, scale to production, and make it part of our overall payment portfolio,” he emphasizes the company's approach.
As Antonopoulos's conversation with the Payment Expert comes to an end, the discussion turns to the upcoming Payment Expert Summit, part of the SBC Summit, which will take place in Lisbon later this month.
OKTO will have a significant presence at the SBC Summit, showcasing its solutions for the sector, while some of its key team members share their views on developments in payments in discussion panels.
“We see more and more payment exhibitors at the various SBC fairs, and given the size of Lisbon, I expect we will see a record number,” he concludes.
“If anything, I think the challenge will be to filter between micro-payment experts, 'one-size-fits-all' payment conglomerates, and the golden section of large companies with a geographical focus.”
Source: GMB
