Provider’s flagship Playbook Football title now available with market leader 

Playbook Football, the unique, real-money, virtual football management betting game taking the industry by storm, is now available to players in Brazil with number one betting brand, Betano.

Taking inspiration from mobile sports games such as FC Ultimate Team and Championship Manager, Playbook Football allows players to build their own team, place bets, receive in-game rewards, climb divisions and compete on leaderboards.

The game is delivered via Playbook Fusion’s proprietary RGS platform and supported by the provider’s exclusive distribution partner, Games Global.

Steve Rogers, Founder and CEO at Playbook Fusion, said: “This is a milestone partnership for Playbook Fusion. Betano is the market leader in Brazil, and we expect Playbook Football to hit the spot with its players.

“Playbook Football offers an entirely new format for sports fans and bettors to engage with, delivering progressive gameplay, ownership and tons of added value compared to standard betting and virtual sports games. It’s all about skill development, persistence, content strategy and being part of a community.

“Playbook Football’s early performance shows just how well it has resonated with players, and now that it’s live with yet another tier one operator we expect this trajectory of success to continue.”

Christina Kiousi, Head of RNG at Kaizen Gaming, added: “Brazil is one of our most important markets, with football playing a central role in how players engage with our Betano platform. With Playbook Football, we are introducing a format that feels highly relevant to our audience, combining strategy, progression and competition in a way that goes beyond traditional betting experiences. This launch reflects our product strategy, which focuses on providing our customers with innovative, high-quality and engaging content.

Payment speed and brand reputation remain crucial for bettors’ selection of online sportsbooks for Super Bowl LX, with 27% expecting to wager more than usual

In the countdown to this Sunday’s Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California, 51% of fans who’ll follow the football game in U.S. states and Canadian provinces with regulated sports-betting plan to bet online, according to research issued today by leading payments platform Paysafe. The company’s All the Ways Players Pay: Super Bowl report also indicates strong interest in legal betting from fans in this year’s host state, if California were to regulate sports-betting, as well as in Texas and Canada’s Alberta.

Appetite to legally wager in California, Texas, and Alberta – with the Canadian province expected to launch its jurisdiction before year-end – rivals the regulated market, with 52% of fans keen to wager on future Super Bowls. Across these currently unregulated jurisdictions and regulated sports-betting markets alike, fans consider payments crucial for online sports betting.

Surveying fans intending to bet in the regulated markets of Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Canada’s Ontario, the report reveals that 59% of them plan to place bets on game-day and 27% expect to wager more than usual. Their top criteria when choosing an online sportsbook are brand trust (prioritized by 43%) and streamlined payouts (37%). Cashing out a Super Bowl bet seamlessly is considered more important than every other non-payment factor, including good odds (30%), UX (22%), promos (21%), and sports events (14%).

Other payment factors are also instrumental in how fans in regulated markets choose sportsbooks, especially rapid deposits (prioritized by 25%) and range of payment methods (24%).

With bettors prioritizing their go-to payment methods’ availability, the battle for Super Bowl customers will likely be won in part by sportsbooks with diverse cashiers.

Across the regulated market, players’ preference for debit cards (43%) is today rivalled by digital wallets (42%). And while states like Massachusetts ban credit cards for wagering, they remain a preference for 33% overall, rising as high as 51% in New York and 47% in Ontario, the top choice in the province.

With established local payment methods (LPMs) like Venmo in the U.S. and Interac e-Transfer in Canada, it’s no surprise that 20% of bettors expect to see their favorite LPM at the cashier. And with 17% of players preferring to wager with pay-by-bank solutions and 10% favoring eCash, sportsbooks with these options will likely gain a competitive edge.

With over a quarter of bettors expecting to wager more than normal, the game offers an important short-term revenue opportunity, but the real value for operators is retaining customers for the long-haul – and here payments are also key. If the payment experience goes awry for the game, 84% of bettors would switch brands.

While California, Texas and Alberta are yet to launch regulated sports-betting markets, Super Bowl fans there are already aware of payments’ importance. If wagering were legal, fans would prioritize payment factors – fast payouts (29%) and rapid deposits (26%) – above everything but brand reputation (36%) when selecting a sportsbook.

Zak Cutler, President of Global Gaming at Paysafe, commented: “Super Bowl LX is expected to generate a record $1.71bn in legal wagers from the U.S. market alone, with an unprecedented betting volume also likely in Canada’s Ontario. The game represents a massive growth opportunity for North American online sportsbooks, and our research indicates that operators that are laser-focused on their cashiers and streamlining the payment experience will give themselves an edge in a highly competitive market.”