Most iGaming sites accept major currencies such as US dollars, GBP or Euros. Deposit and withdrawal methods include credit cards, wire transfer, Neteller, instant check deposit and Money Gram and premium SMS.
According to GlobalAdultBilling.com, 65% of the world does not use credit cards.
In addition, many people are concerned about the possibility of charges for erotic or gaming services appearing on their credit card statement or simply have security concerns about submitting card details over the Internet.
Premium SMS for 2 Billion Mobiles
While the majority of the world either doesn’t use credit cards, or doesn’t have a bank account (even in the USA, 1 in 12 adults do not have a bank account), there are over 2 billion mobiles. Currently, Premium SMS is used to bill mobile subscribers for services such as chat, dating, downloads of wallpapers and ringtones; and for micro-billing.
Micro-billing allows users to pay for third party SMS, WAP and WEB content by sending an SMS to a short code and in return receives either the content directly (for immediate SMS content), or a pass code to log into the WAP or WEB site where the desired content resides. SMS micro-billing has a number of advantages over credit card and premium-rate voice billing:
- It can handle small payment amounts.
- Almost anonymous payment processing (only the mobile phone number is known to the content provider).
- Widely available to mobile subscribers worldwide.
In Europe, establishing a viable payment model for mobile gambling is proving difficult – especially in countries with large numbers of pre-paid customers where the cost of a download or a bet can be the whole value of a top-up card.
Ate Online notes that in Italy, 85% of customers are pre-paid, with 82% in Portugal, 47% in France and 50% in Germany .
In addition, even pre-paid phones are often configured to decline adult and gambling transactions, so the available customer base is seriously reduced.
The reality is that gaming and gambling developers are very much at the mercy of operator billing systems. According to Stephen Carl of Vodafone’s Global Charging and Payment division, “Right now there is a theoretical £5 transaction threshold on WAP transactions for gambling and gaming for both post and pre-paid.”
This is not a technological limitation, but a regulatory issue. Operators also feel constrained by the European Union’s e-cash directive – known in the UK as the Financial Services and Markets Act 2002. This directive states that if the value of the purchase is not downloaded to the handset as content, it will require the billing agent to have a banking license, and Financial Services regulation1.
In order to subscribe to a gambling service using Premium SMS payment, your mobile service provider may require you to disable the “adult content filter” that is installed on some handsets. Also, socially responsible mobile sportsbooks require disclosure of age verification details that can be checked against public records.
Case Study: txtNation
txtNation is a solutions provider across billing, content and mobile messaging platforms .
Focusing on sophisticated, “plug and play” solutions designed and supported by knowledgeable technical and customer support teams, txtNation has proved itself to be one of the most efficient and cost effective messaging, billing and content providers in the business.
With a global reach, and strong partnerships, txtNation can facilitate mobile messaging services and products across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. The company currently serves over 7,000 clients, large and small.
mBILL
mBILL allows clients to sell products and services through mobile devices. The worldwide txtNation platform can bill Premium SMS in over 40 countries, handling mobile transaction security, telecom protocols and regulatory compliance requirements.
Premium SMS solutions charged through mBILL offers the option of either using a cost-effective shared short code or the brand flexibility of a dedicated short code tailored to client specifications.
This integrated platform can be deployed as a “plug and play” solution within an existing ecommerce system.
venus 2000, xbox 360, free crossword puzzle maker
An iGaming client would use mBILL in the following scenario:
- User texts/SMS in to deposit funds/place bet.
- User receives confirmation on purchase.
- You can choose from $0.50 to $10.00 typically per message per country.
- Each country has its own rules on billing amounts and what companies can and cannot bill for (payouts also typically differ per country).
- APIs connect to sites/services to enable this transaction and payout to occur.
- Some offer a full pay model, where the user payouts are higher for the opportunity to use their mobile.
- Some offer less credits based on mobile purchases.
There are many options. From premium and non-Premium SMS, one-way billing, to billing through an automated phone call.
mBILLin ASIA
Asian customers have regional characteristics, including different patterns of betting, product preferences and account settlement practices.
A large portion of this market does not have credit/debit cards, or in some cases, bank accounts. Trust and brand loyalty are the keys to success in this controlled and regulated environment .
In addition, in many developing nations, mobiles outnumber fixed landlines.
While many Western casino operators do not have direct relationships with clients in Asia, mBILL has contracts with China Mobile and China Unicom to connect clients to over 425 million mobile phone users in China, the fastest growing economy in the world and home to the so-called “Second Industrial Revolution”. China has 416.64 million subscribers (31.7% penetration) and two main networks. With a massive mobile user base and huge potential for growth, it is equally home to a massive digital revolution.
mBILLin Latin America
Post UIGEA, many gaming companies have begun to aggressively establish a presence in Latin America. However, this region has low levels of credit card penetration and few alternative payment solutions.
In addition, many payment processors and banks will not work with gaming operators if they lack local licenses, which is a lengthy, cumbersome process to obtain.
In Central and South America, increasing numbers of players are using their mobile phones to purchase their lottery tickets in state-run sweepstakes.
Interoperability issues between wireless networks in South America have prevented companies in this market from realizing the scale of SMS revenues being generated by their counterparts in Europe, where many countries have begun deriving a significant share of their national telecom revenue from the one billion-plus SMS messages sent monthly.
Ignacio Aguero, general director at Argentinean sportsbetting operator, Formoapuestas, noted, “Payments methods are important in this respect. In South America, people do not like to put their credit cards over the Internet. After you have created the culture where people want to gamble, you have to enable them to. You have to give them the right tools to do it securely and easily ”.
txtNation has established connectivity with local language support into the networks of South America, enabling txtNation clients to deliver micro-payments for Web-Based Access (mENABLE), content services (MPUSH) and a wide variety of other SMS revenues from text messaging across Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Brazil will be added to the network later in 2009.
Currently, txtNation delivers both one and two-way SMS services for clients across all major network standards in the Americas, including GSM, TDMA and CDMA.
SMSPayment Solution
Thus, Premium SMS is an affordable solution for increasing a gaming operator’s global customer acquisition, improving loyalty and establishing trusted brands and awareness through direct, personal, accessible and immediate communications.
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Reality TV Driving Premium SMS Revenues
A report was issued, which says that USA premium SMS revenues totaled more than US$273 million, making up 32 percent of mobile content revenue in 2007. Download purchases paid for via premium SMS (at off-portal storefronts) totaled nearly US$215 million, accounting for 79 percent of premium SMS revenue. These off-portal storefront purchases include content such as ringtones and horoscopes.
Voting/sweepstakes entries generated more than US$35 million. While voting/sweepstakes entries generated only 13 percent of total revenues for premium SMS transactions, they represented 47 percent of premium SMS volume, equaling more than 34 million transactions.
Premium text messaging continues to be an additional way to reach consumers directly. Premium SMS has grabbed a healthy slice of the mobile content market.
Voting/sweepstakes entries generated more than US$35 million. While voting/sweepstakes entries generated only 13 percent of total revenues for premium SMS transactions, they represented 47 percent of premium SMS volume, equaling more than 34 million transactions.
Premium text messaging continues to be an additional way to reach consumers directly. Premium SMS has grabbed a healthy slice of the mobile content market.
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
txtNation announced as finalist for Mobile Industry Awards
txtNation in line for Best Billing Provider
txtNation the leading provider of mobile billing, sms messaging and mobile content solutions has today announced that it has secured a place in the short list of finalists in the Best Billing provider category for the Mobile Entertainment Awards 2009, the biggest night in the mobile content industry calendar with over 400 execs from all over the world arriving in London next month.
The awards run and hosted by Intent Media and its market leading trade publication, Mobile Entertainment magazine, was set up originally by the publisher to recognise equally the contribution made by companies operating in the mobile entertainment industry.
Games companies, sms billing providers, mobile hardware manufacturers and content providers will gather for the awards ceremony to celebrate the best in mobile entertainment and reward the finalists of each category selected by 300 handpicked content biz executives. This year there will be 18 awards, with categories including Best Search Provider, Best Community Service Provider and Best Mobile Publishing Platform.
Michael Whelan, Director of txtNation, commented: ‘It’s a great honour to be recognised as a key contributor to the UK mobile billing and content sector. This is a great credit to our team and our clients that we have come this far and have been recognised again by the industry.’
txtNation joins other mobile and premium SMS firms in the list of award finalists for the Best Mobile Billing Provider, and the company is understandably delighted to be nominated to receive the award.
‘We have built a great customer profile and we have soaring reputation and product line, but it is often forgotten that we have a lean but talented team and to make it to the final alongside these major companies is a real boost for txtNation,’ added Danny Marino, Territory Manager (EMEA).
Read more about the release of these new website widgets online, at the txtNation Blog (http://blog.txtnation.com). For more information, please visit: http://txtnation.com/contact_call.php.
mBILL – Simple Mobile Billing
mBILL is a platform for empowering organisations to charge for products and services via a user’s mobile phone. mBILL takes the unpredictability and complexity out of leveraging mobile billing solutions to end-users around the world, across countless networks. Compatible, cost-effective, and consistent: mBILL connects your products and services to millions of mobile phone users in the UK and internationally. mBILL is a sophisticated service, without the complexity and lead time of other customised billing solutions.
About txtNation
txtNation is an outstanding multi award-winning solutions provider across billing, content and mobile messaging platforms. Focussing on sophisticated, ease-of-use solutions designed and supported by knowledgeable technical and customer support teams, txtNation have consistently proved itself one of the most efficient and cost effective messaging, billing and content providers in the business. txtNation's global reach means that we can facilitate mobile messaging services and products via the SMS Gateway across North America, Europe, Australia and Africa. txtNation have developed strong partnerships with many major industry leaders to ensure our solutions are compatible, well-connected and adequately secure. txtNation have well over 7000 clients large and small on every continent who are already experiencing the outstanding advantages which txtNation has to offer. txtNation's products and services increase customer acquisition, improve loyalty and build trusted brands and awareness through direct, personal, easy, and immediate communications.
txtNation the leading provider of mobile billing, sms messaging and mobile content solutions has today announced that it has secured a place in the short list of finalists in the Best Billing provider category for the Mobile Entertainment Awards 2009, the biggest night in the mobile content industry calendar with over 400 execs from all over the world arriving in London next month.
The awards run and hosted by Intent Media and its market leading trade publication, Mobile Entertainment magazine, was set up originally by the publisher to recognise equally the contribution made by companies operating in the mobile entertainment industry.
Games companies, sms billing providers, mobile hardware manufacturers and content providers will gather for the awards ceremony to celebrate the best in mobile entertainment and reward the finalists of each category selected by 300 handpicked content biz executives. This year there will be 18 awards, with categories including Best Search Provider, Best Community Service Provider and Best Mobile Publishing Platform.
Michael Whelan, Director of txtNation, commented: ‘It’s a great honour to be recognised as a key contributor to the UK mobile billing and content sector. This is a great credit to our team and our clients that we have come this far and have been recognised again by the industry.’
txtNation joins other mobile and premium SMS firms in the list of award finalists for the Best Mobile Billing Provider, and the company is understandably delighted to be nominated to receive the award.
‘We have built a great customer profile and we have soaring reputation and product line, but it is often forgotten that we have a lean but talented team and to make it to the final alongside these major companies is a real boost for txtNation,’ added Danny Marino, Territory Manager (EMEA).
Read more about the release of these new website widgets online, at the txtNation Blog (http://blog.txtnation.com). For more information, please visit: http://txtnation.com/contact_call.php.
mBILL – Simple Mobile Billing
mBILL is a platform for empowering organisations to charge for products and services via a user’s mobile phone. mBILL takes the unpredictability and complexity out of leveraging mobile billing solutions to end-users around the world, across countless networks. Compatible, cost-effective, and consistent: mBILL connects your products and services to millions of mobile phone users in the UK and internationally. mBILL is a sophisticated service, without the complexity and lead time of other customised billing solutions.
About txtNation
txtNation is an outstanding multi award-winning solutions provider across billing, content and mobile messaging platforms. Focussing on sophisticated, ease-of-use solutions designed and supported by knowledgeable technical and customer support teams, txtNation have consistently proved itself one of the most efficient and cost effective messaging, billing and content providers in the business. txtNation's global reach means that we can facilitate mobile messaging services and products via the SMS Gateway across North America, Europe, Australia and Africa. txtNation have developed strong partnerships with many major industry leaders to ensure our solutions are compatible, well-connected and adequately secure. txtNation have well over 7000 clients large and small on every continent who are already experiencing the outstanding advantages which txtNation has to offer. txtNation's products and services increase customer acquisition, improve loyalty and build trusted brands and awareness through direct, personal, easy, and immediate communications.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
txtNation reports growth in Premium SMS for Micro-Billing.
With the many options available to merchants for non-credit card processing on the market today, txtNation are leading the way in the dynamic, SMS billing market. Picking up the best mobile billing provider award last month in London, England and recently nominated for the Mobile Entertainment awards this October, txtNation are continuing their fast growth with the most recent of updates to their Premium SMS billing solution. On the back of the popular mENABLE (www.m-enable.com) billing solution, txtNation’s new widget (http://www.m-enable.com/widget) has been packed full of further features that allow merchants to control and manage all aspects of their micro-billing requirements.
txtNation Director, Michael Whelan quotes ‘With the recent demand for mobile billing, this is a very exciting space to be in. We are turning around new merchant’s daily and providing full deployment within a few days. With the billing widget, we have focused on ease of use and setup for those looking to generate revenues from Premium SMS.’
txtNation claim that the majority of website merchants using mENABLE are now processing more revenues with SMS via the widget, than using credit card. txtNation also say that merchants are now becoming more respective to this form of transaction, charging smaller amounts as a form of micro-payment.
Whelan quotes, ‘Micropayments lower the threshold and do not require a big decision before users get their initial benefits: thus users will be encouraged to view more pages and spend more. With a simple interface, the customer is guided step-by-step. With no complicated instructions or lengthy registration, customers are less likely to abandon their payment. Conversions, and customer satisfaction, increase.’
Accepting Micropayments with mENABLE is an ideal way to pay for low value items such as web services, downloadable software, online subscriptions, memberships, plus tickets and online content. mENABLE provides merchants product code for each item on offer and once the micro billed transaction is completed, the customer is given a PIN number which they then use to purchase the product.
txtNation executives see the opportunity for continuing to evolve this product past competitor’s offerings and thus allowing the widgets to evolve to its fullest. Even further opportunities in open source websites software are becoming visible. For instance, Facebook and MySpace plug-in providers are huge in today’s social societies. txtNation sees this as a popular option for integration due to the ease and expansion possibilities for more customization.
Read more about the release of these new website widgets online, at the txtNation Blog (http://blog.txtnation.com). For more information, please visit: http://txtnation.com/contact_call.php.
Worldwide payments, multiple options
mENABLE is built to exceed expectations, leading the field in terms of features, administration and security. The platform offers fast and easy integration, advanced payment tracking, live support to our technical team, fewer overheads than other payment providers, and a truly international reach.
About txtNation
txtNation is an outstanding multi award-winning solutions provider across billing, content and mobile messaging platforms. Focussing on sophisticated, ease-of-use solutions designed and supported by knowledgeable technical and customer support teams, txtNation have consistently proved itself one of the most efficient and cost effective messaging, billing and content providers in the business. txtNation’s global reach means that we can facilitate mobile messaging services and products via the SMS Gateway across North America, Europe, Australia and Africa. txtNation have developed strong partnerships with many major industry leaders to ensure our solutions are compatible, well-connected and adequately secure. txtNation have well over 7000 clients large and small on every continent who are already experiencing the outstanding advantages which txtNation has to offer. txtNation’s products and services increase customer acquisition, improve loyalty and build trusted brands and awareness through direct, personal, easy, and immediate communications.
txtNation Director, Michael Whelan quotes ‘With the recent demand for mobile billing, this is a very exciting space to be in. We are turning around new merchant’s daily and providing full deployment within a few days. With the billing widget, we have focused on ease of use and setup for those looking to generate revenues from Premium SMS.’
txtNation claim that the majority of website merchants using mENABLE are now processing more revenues with SMS via the widget, than using credit card. txtNation also say that merchants are now becoming more respective to this form of transaction, charging smaller amounts as a form of micro-payment.
Whelan quotes, ‘Micropayments lower the threshold and do not require a big decision before users get their initial benefits: thus users will be encouraged to view more pages and spend more. With a simple interface, the customer is guided step-by-step. With no complicated instructions or lengthy registration, customers are less likely to abandon their payment. Conversions, and customer satisfaction, increase.’
Accepting Micropayments with mENABLE is an ideal way to pay for low value items such as web services, downloadable software, online subscriptions, memberships, plus tickets and online content. mENABLE provides merchants product code for each item on offer and once the micro billed transaction is completed, the customer is given a PIN number which they then use to purchase the product.
txtNation executives see the opportunity for continuing to evolve this product past competitor’s offerings and thus allowing the widgets to evolve to its fullest. Even further opportunities in open source websites software are becoming visible. For instance, Facebook and MySpace plug-in providers are huge in today’s social societies. txtNation sees this as a popular option for integration due to the ease and expansion possibilities for more customization.
Read more about the release of these new website widgets online, at the txtNation Blog (http://blog.txtnation.com). For more information, please visit: http://txtnation.com/contact_call.php.
Worldwide payments, multiple options
mENABLE is built to exceed expectations, leading the field in terms of features, administration and security. The platform offers fast and easy integration, advanced payment tracking, live support to our technical team, fewer overheads than other payment providers, and a truly international reach.
About txtNation
txtNation is an outstanding multi award-winning solutions provider across billing, content and mobile messaging platforms. Focussing on sophisticated, ease-of-use solutions designed and supported by knowledgeable technical and customer support teams, txtNation have consistently proved itself one of the most efficient and cost effective messaging, billing and content providers in the business. txtNation’s global reach means that we can facilitate mobile messaging services and products via the SMS Gateway across North America, Europe, Australia and Africa. txtNation have developed strong partnerships with many major industry leaders to ensure our solutions are compatible, well-connected and adequately secure. txtNation have well over 7000 clients large and small on every continent who are already experiencing the outstanding advantages which txtNation has to offer. txtNation’s products and services increase customer acquisition, improve loyalty and build trusted brands and awareness through direct, personal, easy, and immediate communications.
Monday, 20 April 2009
Premium SMS - Mobile Billing and Marketing
Premium SMS (also called reverse billed SMS or Mobile Terminated Billing) is a payment method, which allows the Customer to pay with their mobile phone bill, but without needing access to a Credit/Debit card.
txtNation Limited provides messaging, content, and billing solutions across mobile and other platforms. It offers mBILL, which allows users to charge for products and services to a customer’s mobile phone. In order to pay for some services, the Customer sends SMS to the Provider’s number and receives a digital access code to his phone. At this moment, the Customer’s phone bill is then charged and the money is transferred to the Provider’s account. This payment style is perfect for so-called “micro-payments”.
The mobile market has grown rapidly in a short space of time and Premium SMS billing is also consistently increasing in popularity with this trend. The reason for such PSMS popularity lies in the fact that it is a very successful way for companies to reach their Customers. This may be the reason Premium messaging has become very popular with companies to carry out marketing experiments due to the high coverage that can be achieved.
txtNation also provides mFUSION, a platform for delivering mobile campaigns, which allows companys to set up Mobile marketing campaigns easily. The Client can purchase or define a list of recipients (mobile numbers and names of users). The system automatically tracks user behavior, sends/receives SMS and runs the campaign. The Client gets status reports in different formats.
To find out more about txtNation’s Mobile Billing and Marketing solutions please visit www.m-bill.net and www.mfusion.net. General information about txtNation and all our products can be found at www.txtnation.com. You can also find us on twitter, myspace and facebook for more infomation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
