Online gaming is a multi-billion-dollar industry that is only continuing to gain pace. Yet despite its successful growth, especially in Europe and the UK, the United States of America has historically been difficult to enter, but PXP Financial has cracked the code.
Leading the charge in the US is a member of PXP Financial Ltd’s supervisory board and the CEO of the companies US branch, PXP Financial Inc., Kamran Hedjri. Kamran has been an integral part of PXP Financial’s European and US expansions in the gaming and betting sector, a market which excites him with the continuously evolving innovations happening year on year.
Being on top of the changes in the gaming and betting industry happening around the world is of utmost importance to Kamran, particularly within regulation. He has high-level knowledge of regulation from multiple countries and this has allowed him to understand the regulations that are most effective, and which need updating to help benefit the industry.
In 1992 the USA released the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act that banned commercial sports betting in most states. This was a major step in restricting the gaming and betting industry across the country, however in 2018, the Supreme Court overturned the law. This reopened the gates and allowed companies, both US-based and not, to enter a lucrative new market.
Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Each of the 51 states has its own regulations and laws to follow, on top of the country-wide laws. This can make entering the market feel intimidating, but it is still doable. PXP Financial, a global payments provider based in Europe, began supporting US clients in 2013 and in the last two years has expanded its market reach greatly, and will only be increasing its reach in 2021.
A lot of this growth happened in the turbulent year of 2020. Even amidst the uncertainty that is COVID-19, it rolled out its support in 9 US states, using a similar strategy to what was previously used in Europe – supporting gaming operators with their own expansion needs and acting as consultants to help them grow their new market.
Just some of the partners they’ve supported this year include:
BetMGM
Formerly ROAR Digital, BetMGM is the joint venture between MGM Resorts International and GVC Holding Plc – established in July 2018. The goal behind BetMGM was to create a world-class sports betting and online gaming platform for the United States, following the new regulated sports betting market growing in the US, and it needed the right partner to achieve this.
In June of this year, PXP Financial announced its support of the platform in its multi-state rollout. Already it is the established payment solution to ROAR Digital in New Jersey, West Virginia, Colorado, Indiana and Nevada when the announcement went live but its 2020 plans involved a phased rollout to even more US states in the new year, with Pennsylvania and Michigan already on the horizon. Now under its new name of BetMGM, it is continuing its support in 2021.
Penn Interactive
A subsidiary of Penn National Gaming, Inc., Penn Interactive is an innovative gaming operator based out of Pennsylvania that was looking to expand its offering into new markets, while keeping the back-end technology and payment process simple and easy for customers. Having been introduced to PXP Financial through another partner, White Hat Gaming, it was the perfect fit support Penn Interactive achieve its goals.
PXP Financial’s full-service gateway allowed for multiple connections to various payment service providers all in one place. It also offered Penn Interactive a fully managed service to include reconciliations and risk monitoring to keep the payments process secure across a wide market. With its technology and gaming licenses, it made it easy to expand Penn’s influence, and the roadmap for 2021 already looks very exciting.
Tipico
PXP Financial was already a partner of Tipico in Europe and so when the global sportsbook operator decided to expand its operations into the US, it felt natural to extend its partnership into that region as well. The US partnership launched in October, in New Jersey, but the plan is for the business to broaden out into multiple states in 2021.
Like with Penn Interactive, PXP Financial is supporting Tipico through its extensive knowledge of the US market, it’s capability to work with multiple payment solutions and with its all-in-one, full-service gateway. The close and intensive relationship between Tipico and PXP Financial Inc. means the two will be able to support each other in both parties US brand expansion.
Bring on 2021
2020 has been a major step in the US for PXP Financial’s gaming division and the payment provider is excited to roll out further expansion plans in 2021. A few more announcements are already in the pipeline and will provide more opportunities to study and understand the best practices to help break into an exciting and growing market that is the United States of America.
