2020 was a great year for PXP Financial’s growth in the US iGaming market, and now that we are three months into 2021, we can say with confidence that we won’t be slowing down anytime soon! In line with our overall market growth, our US operation has grown exponentially in 2021 so far. So how are we doing it?
Meeting everyone’s goals for growth
Alongside our own growth, our US partners wanted us to support their growth journeys with our full-service payment offering. With this in mind, our primary focus over Q1 was to make sure we serviced existing US merchant customers by helping them to prepare for their 2021 launches. For example, BetMGM, a joint venture between MGM Resort and Entain, a PXP partner since 2020, wanted to expand its poker operations into a new region, specifically Michigan (MI). Utilising our dynamic team and technology, as well as expert knowledge of the US iGaming landscape, we have made this possible this year. It also enabled us to expand Penn Interactive, a subsidiary of Penn National Gaming, with their sports offerings into Illinois and casino and sports into Michigan.
Michigan was also a key step in PXP Financial’s own growth as it was a new state for us to operate in. It wasn’t our only new state to expand into this quarter, however, we also set up operations in Illinois (IL) and Virginia (VA) – bringing the total of US states with a PXP presence to 12.
Supporting big sporting events
In the US, the start of the year is the start of the sporting season and two major events took place that kept our sports bookmaking partners busy.
The first of these was the Super Bowl on the 7th of February 2021. This was the first real test for us in this region (for this year). Interest in this event is held across the entire country and from our past experiences, we know it entices many first-time players and one-time customers wanting in on the action by placing a bet. The excitement around the event meant there were constant large volumes of transactions taking place, and we are pleased that through our service all users wanting to place a bet were able to.
Less than a month later saw the NCAA March Madness event take place. The month-long basketball tournament has 68 teams from across the country competing and is a very popular event for fans of the sport. With a huge number of teams taking part there were plenty of games and in turn lots of opportunities for bets to be placed and payments to be made. Our full payments gateway ensured there was no downtime and allowed players to keep up with the exciting tournament as it evolved.
Working through challenges
It’s not all been smooth sailing of course as COVID-19 continues, presenting major challenges daily to our lives and this inevitably slows down some processes. Thankfully, it is something we at PXP are used to now and have adapted to and fortunately, iGaming has been relatively untouched.
Another challenge presented itself in the form of regulation. While most states allow iGaming to some degree (with the exceptions being Utah and Hawaii), not every state is fully regulated for iGaming and our growth is affected by this. For example, Illinois allows for some variants of iGaming but not every type of game, meaning that our partners are still limited in what activity can be done. We are seeing a push from politicians to change these current policies and as the year goes on, we hope more states allow the iGaming industry more freedom.
Focusing on an even better tomorrow
Q1 was ultimately a great few months for us. We are fully on track with our growth expectations and slightly ahead of our project numbers for the year, which is fantastic. As the year goes on, we aim to continue supporting our partners with expansion and product plans, but we are also getting ready to announce some new US partners as well. We look forward to keeping you posted on our success in the US.
If you want to learn more about how PXP Financial supports its gaming partners, in all regions, then get in touch via the form below or visit: https://www.pxpfinancial.com/gaming
