How to Choose a PSP for iGaming: 12 Questions to Ask
Choosing the wrong PSP is expensive: lost deposits, frozen reserves and months spent re-integrating. Here are 12 questions to ask a provider before signing, and what to look for in the answers.
Markets and methods
- Which geos and methods do you actually serve for iGaming? Not “supported in principle”, but where you have live iGaming merchants right now. Ask for typical approval rates in your key geos.
- Which acquirers process the cards? If two of your PSPs sit on the same acquirer, you get no redundancy: they will decline the same way.
- Which licences and merchant jurisdictions do you accept? The answer shows straight away whether you fit the provider and how stable the relationship will be.
Money
- What makes up the full cost? Rate, fixed fee, fees for declines, refunds, chargebacks and currency conversion. Calculate the cost per successful deposit, not just the percentage.
- What reserve, and for how long? A rolling reserve and its term directly affect your working capital.
- How and when are settlements paid? Settlement frequency, currencies, minimum amounts, who pays transfer fees.
Technology
- What data do you return on a decline? You need the original issuer decline code and, for Mastercard, the Merchant Advice Code. Without them you can’t tune cascading.
- How does 3DS work? Is 3DS 2 supported, what data can be passed, can you get statistics on abandoned authentications.
- Is there tokenisation and card storage? It directly affects how fast repeat deposits are.
- How do callbacks and statuses work? What happens on a timeout, are notifications resent, how to avoid “stuck” payments.
Support and risk
- How do we escalate an approval rate problem? Is there a dedicated manager, how fast do they respond, can you get an analysis of specific transactions.
- On what terms can you suspend or terminate a merchant? Chargeback thresholds, advance notice, what happens to the reserve after termination.
How to compare the answers
Put the answers into one table and calculate the cost per successful deposit including approval rate: a cheap provider with a low approval rate almost always costs more. Put a new PSP on part of the traffic and compare it with the current one on the same segments — that is the only way to see the real difference.
We don’t sell PSPs or take commissions from providers: we help you compare options for your task, and the choice stays with you.
In short
How many PSPs does an iGaming project need?
At least two for cards in each key geo, ideally on different acquirers, plus local method providers.
What matters more: fee rate or approval rate?
Usually approval rate. Calculate the cost per successful deposit: a small difference in approval rate often outweighs a difference in fees.
Published: · Updated: · GURO PSP