Sightline Payments Partners With Visa on Casino Resort Payment Solutions

Sightline Payments is deploying Visa-branded Play+ cards to expand omnichannel payment solutions for casino resorts.

This combination will bring together Sightline Payments’ Play+ accounts for the U.S. sports betting and casino gaming market and Visa’s tokenization efforts in order to enable customers to use digital payments instead of carrying cash at casino resorts, Sightline Payments said in a Thursday (Feb. 2) press release.

“Leveraging modern payments solutions strengthens the relationship between the resort and its patrons,” Sightline Co-CEO Joe Pappano said in the release. “Enabling customers to use a single wallet for anything across the resort provides guests a better experience while earning loyalty for everything they do on property.”

With Sightline Payments issuing Visa Play+ debit cards for the first time, customers will be able to use a single payment method throughout a casino resort — including the hotel, retail, entertainment, dining and nightlife.

Customers will also be able to add their Play+ card to their mobile wallet, earn rewards on all their activities and spend the money on their Play+ card at any merchant that accepts Visa.

“The gaming industry is one of the largest cash-centric ecosystems remaining in the United States,” Sightline Payments said in the release. “In 2021, the U.S. gaming industry generated more than $100 billion in revenue, and the regulated global gaming industry is projected to grow to more than $800 billion by 2026, providing ample opportunities for innovative payment options.”

Aiming to meet similar needs is gaming FinTech Flexia Payments, which debuted in August 2022 a way for casino customers to enroll in a cashless gambling solution that includes casino loyalty systems.

Called the InstaPlay Registration and Integrated Onboarding Module, it lets customers scan a QR code in the casino or on the casino website and then collects customer data, performs know your customer (KYC) and fraud checks, and issues co-branded multi-account Mastercards. It also populates the casino’s customer management system (CMS) and loyalty system with customer data.

“This is what will propel true cashless in the casino environment,” Flexia President Scott Walker said at the time. “We have successfully taken the friction out of the enrollment process and simultaneously coordinated customer enrollment across multiple platforms.”