Aeropay and Worldpay Team to Streamline Gaming Payments

Aeropay and Worldpay have launched a gaming payments partnership focused on both players and operators.

The collaboration allows for the integration of Aeropay’s account-to-account (A2A) platform with Worldpay’s merchant network, offering A2A payments and payouts to U.S. gaming operators, the companies announced Wednesday (Oct. 9).

“This partnership with Aeropay allows us to offer a new level of A2A services previously unavailable to our clients,” said Joseph Watkins, president of gaming solutions at Worldpay.

“By incorporating Aeropay’s A2A solutions and Aerosync technology, we’re providing a faster, more efficient payment option that reduces the time and complexity associated with traditional ACH setups,” Watkins added, referring to automated clearing house payments.

According to a post on Aeropay’s blog, the company’s instant payouts offering can transfer funds from gaming operators to players in real-time, including during holidays and weekends, or after business hours.

This lets gaming merchants who use Worldpay allow for instant player withdrawals directly from their platform.

“By integrating Aeropay’s A2A solutions, gaming merchants can bypass card network fees, dramatically reducing payment processing costs,” the blog post said. “This leads to significant savings, particularly for high-volume transactions in gaming.”

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence found that while around 80% of gamers prefer immediate access to their winnings, instant payouts are relatively rare, despite the rising popularity of online sportsbooks and online gaming.

“With so much of this action happening online, one might assume cash would be less of a winning payout option and digital payouts would be the rule,” PYMNTS wrote in April.

However, the study found that what even could purport to be instant payouts can be delayed — sometimes for as much as 24 hours, which understandably leads to customer frustration.

PYMNTS examined the rise of A2A payments – or bank-to-bank payments — earlier this week, arguing that the method could see a boost from the B2B space, as it lets suppliers know the goods or services they’ve provided will be paid for quickly.

That growth from the commercial space would come as PYMNTS Intelligence data shows that 36% of consumers use pay by bank.

With that in mind, PYMNTS wrote, “some cross-pollination may speed the growing use of more direct options. “Consumers are, after all, businesspeople, and businesspeople are also consumers.”

Some recent announcements underline the appeal and the widening availability of the direct payment method, including Bank of America’s Virtual Payables Direct.

“Visa has also been busy in the bank-to-bank payment space, opening up newer avenues of revenues and payments volumes that notched growth in B2B virtual cards but also expanded beyond card-focused transactions,” PYMNTS wrote.