The Ultimate Checklist for Choosing an iGaming Payment Provider - SOLA

Introduction: The Cost of a Bad Partner

For the Head of Payments, selecting a gateway is not a procurement decision; it is a bet on your own operational solvency. The cost of a bad partner is not measured in basis points; it is measured in catastrophic failure—frozen settlement accounts, collapsing approval rates during peak events, and a direct hit to GGR. Industry post-mortems consistently show that payment downtime can cost a mid-sized operator over €15,000 per hour, a figure that ignores the irreversible brand damage and player churn. Yet the sales decks are an exercise in homogeneity, promising frictionless experiences and global reach.

They mask the operational reality. This is not a SaaS subscription you can cancel; it is an infrastructure dependency that, if it fails, takes your entire revenue function with it. To choose igaming payment provider with clarity, you must move beyond the pitch and into forensic due diligence. This guide provides the interrogation framework. It is not a list of features; it is a battle-hardened casino payment processor checklist designed to stress-test a potential partner’s true capabilities and expose the weaknesses hidden in their MSA. Use it to fortify your payment operations. For a foundational overview, review A Guide to iGaming and Forex Payment Processing.

Phase 1: Jurisdictional & Regulatory Fit

Before you evaluate a single feature, you must validate the provider’s fundamental license to operate within your regulatory framework. A sales team’s verbal confirmation is insufficient; this phase requires a forensic audit of their actual capabilities. In the high-stakes environment of global iGaming, as discussed at events like SiGMA World, regulatory misalignment is a terminal risk.

Your vetting process must demand concrete answers to these non-negotiable questions:

License & Acquirer Alignment: Do you have direct, verifiable acquiring relationships for our specific license? A claim to “support” an MGA license is meaningless without stable banking in the EU. For a Curacao gaming license, the banking environment is exceptionally volatile post-2024 reforms. You must demand the provider name the specific EMIs and settlement routes they use to navigate this de-risking landscape.
GEO-Specific Rails & Expertise: Do you offer “local depth” or just “global breadth”? Generic card processing is obsolete. If your target is Brazil, they must offer PIX with high approval rates. For Canada, Interac is not optional. For Ontario specifically, they must prove they are registered with the AGCO and can meet its stringent player fund segregation and reporting mandates. “Global coverage” is a marketing myth; you need GEO-specific rails.
Crypto & Fiat Settlement: Can you process crypto deposits (e.g., USDT) and, critically, settle them as fiat (EUR/USD) to our corporate accounts? This hybrid capability is essential for managing treasury risk while still catering to the massive crypto-native player base.

If a potential partner cannot provide definitive, evidenced answers to these questions, they fail this phase. To choose igaming payment provider that ensures longevity, you must confirm their compliance architecture can withstand the scrutiny your license demands.

Phase 2: The Cashier Experience & Conversion

Once regulatory alignment is confirmed, the focus shifts to product execution. Your cashier is not a back-office utility; it is a conversion funnel. A clunky, slow, or confusing deposit flow is the single largest point of revenue leakage in your entire operation. To choose igaming payment provider that actively boosts your GGR, you must rigorously test their front-end execution from the perspective of a demanding, mobile-first player.

Your product due diligence checklist must include:

Mobile-First Design: Is the checkout genuinely mobile-native, or is it a shrunken desktop form? With over 70% of all iGaming wagers now placed on mobile devices, any hosted page or iframe solution must be architected for thumb-driven interaction. Request a live sandbox demo and test it on multiple devices. Any horizontal scrolling or difficult-to-tap fields is an immediate disqualification.
Frictionless Repeat Deposits: Do you support tokenization for one-click deposits? A returning VIP should never have to re-enter their card details. The provider must demonstrate a robust tokenization system that allows for seamless, instant top-ups, a core component of cashier optimization.
Digital Wallet Integration: Is there native support for Apple Pay and Google Pay? This is no longer a “nice-to-have.” Data from 2024 consistently shows that an Apple Pay integration can increase first-time deposit conversion by up to 20% by eliminating manual data entry. If a provider’s primary offering is a standard credit card form, their technology is already obsolete.
Dynamic APM Display: Does the cashier intelligently surface local payment methods based on the player’s GEO-IP? A player in Germany should see Sofort and Giropay first, not M-Pesa. This dynamic presentation is a key indicator of a sophisticated, conversion-focused platform.

Phase 3: Risk, Retention & Redundancy

A payment gateway that cannot withstand the volatility of the iGaming market is a liability. Your operational due diligence must focus on a provider’s architectural resilience, their approach to risk, and their ability to recover revenue that would otherwise be lost. A gateway that only processes “happy path” transactions is insufficient for this vertical.

Your stability and risk checklist must demand proof of the following:

Intelligent Redundancy: Do you operate on a single-acquirer model or a multi-acquirer one? What happens when your primary banking partner has a five-minute outage? You must insist on smart routing and payment cascading. This is the mechanism that automatically retries a failed transaction through a secondary bank in milliseconds. A provider without this capability has a single point of failure that will inevitably go down during a major sporting event.
Gaming-Specific Fraud Tools: How do you differentiate between standard payment fraud and iGaming-specific threats? A generic CVV check is useless against bonus abuse protection. Demand to see their tools for device fingerprinting, IP intelligence, and velocity checks designed to detect and block multi-accounting rings. If their fraud solution is a generic third-party bolt-on, it is not fit for purpose.
Verifiable Uptime and Support: What is your documented SLA for uptime, and what are the financial penalties for breaching it? Do you have a public, real-time status page? A provider who is not transparent about their system stability is hiding something. Your final check in this phase should be a live test of their technical support during your target market’s peak hours.

For a deeper analysis of European acquiring stability, refer to The Ultimate Guide to High-Risk Payment Processing in Europe.

Phase 4: Financials & Settlement Terms

A low headline rate is often a smokescreen for punitive terms buried in the contract. Your financial due diligence must deconstruct a provider’s pricing and settlement model to reveal the true cost of the partnership. A CFO-level analysis is required to ensure the provider’s cash flow mechanics align with your own operational needs.

Your finance team’s checklist must scrutinize these critical levers:

Settlement Speed & Currency: What is your standard settlement cycle? A T+7 holdback can be a significant drag on working capital compared to a T+2 or T+3 cycle. Crucially, can you settle in currencies other than EUR/USD? For operators with significant crypto volume, the ability to receive settlement speed in USDT-TRC20 can reduce the cycle to mere hours, a massive liquidity advantage.
Rolling Reserve Policy: What is your standard rolling reserve, and under what conditions is it negotiable? A rigid 10% reserve held for 180 days is a relic of the past. A true partner will offer a path to rolling reserve negotiation based on a stable chargeback history and processing volume. A static, non-negotiable reserve is a red flag.
Foreign Exchange (FX) Fees: What is your exact markup on currency conversion? This is the most common hidden cost. Many providers lure merchants with a low MDR (Merchant Discount Rate), only to claw back margin by charging an opaque 3-5% on FX fees when settling cross-border transactions. Demand full transparency on their FX policy; this is often where the real cost lies.

Phase 5: The Red Flags & Conclusion

Finally, your due diligence must include an active search for disqualifying signals. Certain provider behaviors are not just minor issues; they are clear indicators of future operational failure. If you encounter any of the following, terminate the evaluation immediately.

The Aggregator Mirage: Be wary of providers who are not direct acquirers or do not hold their own EMI licenses. These are often aggregators reselling another company’s merchant account. This creates a critical point of failure; if their upstream partner de-risks them, your funds and processing capabilities disappear overnight.
The “100% Approval Rate” Lie: This promise is technically impossible and a definitive sign of a dishonest sales process. No provider can override an issuing bank’s decision to decline a transaction for insufficient funds or a fraud alert. A partner who promises this is either ignorant or unethical.
The Support Ghost: A slow or incompetent response from their technical support team during the evaluation phase is your most reliable predictor of future pain. If they cannot answer your questions promptly when trying to win your business, they will be non-existent when you have a live crisis at 2 AM.

This casino payment processor checklist is your framework for a rigorous, fact-based selection process. The goal is not to find a vendor but to forge a payment partnership built on stability and transparency. We encourage you to use this guide to interrogate potential partners, including us. To choose igaming payment provider that will accelerate your growth, not capsize it, you must demand this level of scrutiny.

Challenge us. See how Sola scores against this checklist by exploring our Sola Solutions.