SafeCharge announced the launch of the annual Index of Payments in Gaming 2016, which is an industry sentiment survey of payments issues polling C-level leaders in key gaming companies.
The survey was designed to give an indication of key priorities and concerns around payments and to examine where the industry pendulum sits between maximum payment flexibility/player conversions and concerns around compliance and fraud.
Headline Results
- Gaming Companies are keen to maximize conversions globally. 100% of survey respondents said they strongly agree that offering players multiple payment channels is important and 76% say that offering local payment methods is essential.
- Increasing ease and flexibility for players is key – familiar branded payment pages and instant are desirable payouts. 85% strongly agreed (and 15% agree) that offering localization capabilities can expand global business and 85% of respondents agree branded payment pages are important as is offering instant payouts.
- Fraud and compliance are ongoing issues for gaming company leaders. 77% of respondents said it's possible to detect fraudulent player behaviour in real-time without damaging approval ratios. There is confidence in current solutions and risk solutions continue to remain important.
- 53% of the sample employ PCI descoping. Merchants recognize the importance of descoping players' sensitive credit card data to PCI experts. The merchant is able to shift the responsibility of protecting payment data and is no longer a target for potential attacks.
“Merchants need to increase conversions by offering simple, secure payment solutions to their global players. Within the gaming industry competition is fierce and margins lower, with merchants fighting for every player.” commented Shemer Katz, Chief Marketing Officer, SafeCharge. “This research confirms that our commitment to maximize increased conversions for our gaming merchants is in sync with top industry sentiment. We will achieve this by offering multiple payment channels, alternative payment methods to enable global expansion and branded payment pages. Although merchants feel that conversions are currently the overriding concern we cannot downgrade our focus on risk and still need to stress its importance.”