US sports betting payment preferences: Winning players with payments
Discover how payment security and alternative payment methods drive player acquisition in US sports betting with insights from Paysafe’s report.
For online sports betting brands seeking to gain a foothold and grow market share in the U.S., understanding players' attitudes and preferences is critical.
Paysafe partnered with independent research agency Sapio Research to survey over 4,300 online sports betting consumers in the U.S. and globally, to learn more about their attitude towards sports betting, how regularly they wager, whether they plan to increase their sports betting activity in the future, and the factors they consider when selecting platforms to place their bets.
The findings of that survey placed payments as the foundation of consumers’ choices when it came to online sports betting. The data indicates that players want to deposit and withdraw securely from betting apps, and they want a variety of payment options to do so. The results highlight why offering alternative payments is key to player acquisition.
The data from this survey is revealed in our consumer research report, All the Ways Players Pay, which is available to download here.
The key takeaways from the report include:
Payment security is the top priority for iGaming players
Consumers’ perception of the security of their financial details and transactions plays a significant role in their appetite for online sports betting; 41% of players globally cite security as their top payment concern.
iGaming and sports betting providers are making progress on fulfilling payment preferences. In the U.S., 70% of bettors in New York and Louisiana feel confident in deposit security, suggesting that the industry is building trust with its customers.
It’s also worth noting that security must be combined with privacy and anonymity in the U.S. sports betting market. Eighty-one percent (81%) of players globally value anonymity when choosing a payment method. Adding encryption to payment security further strengthens those protections, offering a powerful incentive to security-conscious bettors.
For individual operators and the industry in general, prioritizing payment security and trust in their brand is vital for growth.
Players want to deposit in multiple ways
In a fragmenting landscape, consumers’ payment preferences for how they make online transactions are becoming more varied. Our data suggests that this is as true for U.S. sports betting as it is for e-commerce.
Debit cards are still the payment option of choice for 49% of U.S. sports bettors. However, alternative payment options like digital wallets are becoming increasingly popular; 44% of U.S. bettors favor digital wallets, well ahead of the global average (38%).
The All the Ways Players Pay report also found an increased appetite for eCash (18%) and local payment methods. Ultimately, payment preferences are increasingly diverse, and brands need to diversify their funding options if they wish to capitalize.
Alternative payments are key to player acquisition
The issue of increasing card decline rates has severely affected all forms of online gaming since the 2013 regulation changes permitted online poker and casino gaming in New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware. This obstacle has continued in sports betting; for example, in 2023, 19% of online sports bettors experienced a card decline, and of these, over half (51%) confirmed that this was a frequent issue for them.
Digital wallets offer a powerful tool for overcoming card decline issues by storing updated card information and using tokenization to prevent outdated or incorrect credentials. They are also popular with prospective bettors, thus offering iGaming and sports betting providers a powerful tool for attracting new customers.
Overall, 60% of players globally plan to wager more using alternative payment methods (“APMs”) over the next two years, and not just because of reduced decline rates. Thirty-six percent (36%) of bettors choose digital wallets for security, 28% for fastest withdrawals, and 27% for fastest deposits.
eCash, which allows players to gamble with cash online, is also gaining popularity in emerging markets. Already 18% of gamblers globally use eCash, with even higher adoption rates in Latin America (for example, 30% in Colombia).
Download the full report
Payment preferences are evolving and your business needs to keep pace.
Contact Paysafe to discover our complete suite of iGaming payment solutions and how they will help you win and retain more customers.
In the meantime, learn more about U.S. consumer sports betting preferences in our report All the Ways Players Pay.
This article contains general information, and its content should not be relied upon as legal, financial, transactional, or business advice, nor as instructional material. Neither Paysafe Limited (NYSE: PSFE), nor any of its subsidiaries or affiliates (collectively, “Paysafe”), endorses or makes any warranties regarding the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, information, or statement provided in this article. While Paysafe strives to ensure the accuracy of the information presented, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to its completeness or accuracy. All content contained in or made available in this article is for educational, informational, and/or advertising purposes only. Paysafe supports responsible gambling.
