SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
As regulatory landscapes and consumer payment habits shift, seamless and compliant payment solutions have arguably never been more critical in the global igaming industry. With new frameworks requiring certain standards for payment rails and systems integrations, operators must stay ahead of the curve of payment tech.
Payments provider OKTO is addressing this challenge head-on, ensuring its partners have frictionless experience with its holistic payment ecosystem.
All Eyes on Brazil & LatAm
OKTO’s expansion strategy in Latin America is gaining momentum, with its Brazil service a prime example of its commitment to localised solutions. As a high-volume transaction market, Brazil presented a unique challenge for merchants – migrating to the Pix system.
Recognising this critical need, the OKTO team stepped in, ensuring a seamless transition for their clients while maintaining high service standards.
Simon Dorsen, OKTO’s Chief Commercial Officer, tells SBC News from ICE Barcelona: “In Brazil, your tech has to be top-notch, your customer service needs to excel – not just for the merchant to comply with the new regulatory framework, but also for the end user. A great acceptance rate is essential, we had to prove that we could deliver on our promises. With the migration, we had to follow through – and we did.”
This reliability and professionalism have solidified OKTO’s reputation as a trusted payment partner and beyond in Brazil.
“Success breeds success,” Dorsen continues. “Our customers see that we keep our word and get the job done as seamlessly as possible. That builds trust and opens doors for new opportunities. When merchants see that OKTO can handle their biggest challenges, they naturally ask, ‘What’s next?’”
With the launch of Brazil’s regulated igaming market at the start of the year, OKTO is in a position to support operators with tailored, market-specific payment solutions.
Beyond Brazil, OKTO’s payment orchestration simplifies integration for merchants across Latin America, offering a unified solution that supports multiple local payment methods. This ensures seamless, instant transactions for both deposits and withdrawals across diverse regions. Additionally, OKTO recently introduced a smart routing function that optimises payment flow, enhancing efficiency and performance for operators.
But while Latin America remains a focal point, the company is equally attentive to global opportunities, including Europe and India.
Expanding Global Reach
The non-exhaustive list of markets on OKTO’s radar include Greece, Romania, Germany, Cyprus, Austria, Czech Republic, Serbia, Mexico, Portugal, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, the UAE and Switzerland. This is on top of the work it does in both India and Latin America, which includes the high-profile operations in Brazil.
Driving Strategy Through Industry Insights
Asked about the processes which drive OKTO’s operations and strategic decisions, Dorsen explains the importance of merchant feedback and major industry events help in this direction.
“We position ourselves as a merchant-led provider,” he says. “We’re always speaking to our merchants, and over the years we’ve built a strong network of tier-one partners. Our approach is based on continuous dialogue and evolving to meet the needs of each market we are operating in.”
A Unified Payment Experience
OKTO.CASH acts as a bridge between cash and digital payments, allowing users to deposit funds into their igaming accounts via OKTO’s network of points of sales. This solution has seen high adoption rates in markets where cash remains a dominant payment method, particularly in southern and eastern Europe.
“Cash remains a preferred payment method in several jurisdictions, and users want a fully compliant and frictionless way to deposit cash online,” Dorsen outlines. “OKTO.CASH is also proving to be a strong customer acquisition too, while also what’s really important about our cash-to-digital service is that we can white label it, and so we’re seeing an uptick in performance since the launch. Recognisable brands like Kaizen, Novibet and Betsson among others are already leveraging the white-label service with great success.”
“We’ve been heavily focusing on our OKTO.CASH across Europe, India, Mexico and beyond. What’s key now is that we’ve combined it with OKTO.WALLET, creating a unified payment ecosystem. It’s not just OKTO.CASH as a standalone product – it’s now united with the OKTO.WALLET, offering a complete, merchant & user-friendly solution with OKTO.CASH for deposits and OKTO.WALLET for instant withdrawals. This is what our merchants have asked for to give their users what they want and make their compliance departments happy with a full closed loop payment ecosystem.”
Complementing OKTO.CASH is OKTO.WALLET, which acts as the payout to OKTO.CASH’s deposits. It enables omnichannel transactions across both retail and online. Users can fund their wallets through several payment methods including cards, instant bank transfers and Apple Pay and can also order a Free Visa Card linked to their wallet for seamless transactions at any retail or online store.
The closed loop system, offered by OKTO ensures that both deposits and withdrawals are handled with a secure and compliant framework, a feature that merchants and their compliance teams highly appreciate.
“Our complete ecosystem for deposits and withdrawals has gained significant traction over the past year,” Dorsen notes. “Merchants value the security and convenience of a closed-loop system, and we’ve seen a strong demand for this integrated approach.”
By aiming to remain agile and responsive to market dynamics, OKTO ensures that its payment solutions align with local demands, recognising the ongoing importance of cash in several regions. This customer-centric approach, combined with a commitment to great tech and exceptional service, continues to drive OKTO’s success.
As Dorsen wraps up: “We remain humble and laser-focused on delivering advance payment tech. Our priority is supporting our merchants, following through on our commitments and building relationships. That’s been our approach and strategy – not just in the last 12 months, but since day one. And we’re excited to see our momentum keep growing.”
