There are numerous payment options available to betting and gaming companies, including carrier billing, although as with any addition to a firm’s operations there is much to consider. 

As contactless and mobile-based methods of payment become more popular, they have caught the attention of the gambling industry, and one of the notable companies to have moved to capitalise on this space is Dimoco.

One of Dimoco’s main achievements as a company – one which Charlotte Newby, the firm’s Head of Communications, highlighted as key to its operations – is that it is the only payments provider to offer carrier billing as a transaction method in the German gaming market. 

Carrier billing, the firm detailed, allows firms and individuals to conduct a transaction using just their phone number. This is both an easy to use method for operators, but according to Dimoco’s Carrier Billing’s department’s resident payments specialist Xhejn Dule, also poses acquisition opportunities.

“Iigaming operators face quite a bit of competition, therefore it’s essential for them to differentiate themselves,” he remarked. 

“Carrier billing can open up the new market potential that they are missing out on, and that means new acquisitions – simply by the fact an end user only is required to provide his mobile phone user and some might not be comfortable with disclosing their credit card information or their bank information. 

“Therefore, carrier billing can really be the tool when it comes to acquisition and new player potential that they are currently missing out on.”

However, there are hurdles and requirements to consider, as Dimoco’s Legal Department Senior Associate, Ivanna Tysba, observed. 

To be able to offer the solution, Dimoco needs to analyse or implement legal requirements across a number of laws, covering areas such as consumer protection, payments services laws, telecommunications laws and legislation specifically relating to igaming. 

Additionally, she noted, operators need to consider whether carrier billing should be implemented under the telecommunication exemption or under a licence.

In case of the former, Tysba asserted that “business would need to observe certain limitations of the Payments Service Directive, otherwise a licence is required. For Dimoco, any scenario works because it holds a licence under the Austrian Financial Market Authority and acts as a payment insulation throughout the EEA”.

Newby noted that when making the decision whether to adopt carrier billing, operators should also consider different national regulatory conditions, passing the topic over to Dule.

Pointing to the newly regulated German market, where as Newby mentioned Dimoco maintains a strong presence, Dule added: “We have developed our solution to not only be as a payment method but have an embedded KYC check and be compliant with the regulation.

“Therefore players are not only able to deposit funds into their gambling accounts but at the same time, based on the information that they enter upon registration, will be able to cross check and cross reference that information to the accurate database of the mobile carriers, and ensure the person who deposits funds is the person who he claims he is. 

“This is part of a more general strategy that we have where we explore new markets that we plan to operate in, Germany being the latest, but there are others such as Greece and Spain which we are exploring.”