The US iGaming market is moving fast—and so are its payments. With instant payments gaining momentum and open banking regulation on the horizon, operators have a rare chance to leap ahead. In the US today, instant payouts to players are well established over Real-Time Payments (RTP) rails and FedNow, while instant pay-ins are still emerging—making the deposit experience a key area of innovation.

Across the pond, instant account-to-account (also known as Pay by Bank) payments combined with consent-based financial data have already reshaped the player experience, cut costs, and made responsible gambling more effective across the UK and Europe. Now, the same transformation is about to hit the US—and the operators who prepare today will be tomorrow’s market leaders.

Instant payments: the new normal for player experience

For iGamers, speed matters. Players want to deposit funds and start playing instantly. They want to cash out winnings without waiting days.

That’s where the US’s two main instant payment systems come in:

• RTP (Real-Time Payments)—launched by The Clearing House in 2017—already reaches around 90% of US demand deposit accounts. Transactions are final, settled 24/7, and can include rich payment data.
• FedNow—the Federal Reserve’s system launched in July 2023—is growing quickly, with over 1,100 institutions onboard and rising.

These rails are a huge leap forward from Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers, which are still batch-processed and can take days. For players, that means the days of waiting for winnings to “hit the bank” are numbered.

Today, instant payment rails are most widely used for Business to Business (B2C) and Consumer to Consumer (C2C) transfers—think payroll disbursements or peer-to-peer apps like Venmo. But consumer-to-business adoption is growing fast, and iGaming is a natural fit: players already expect instant deposits and real-time access to winnings, making the case for C2B instant payments compelling for operators and players alike.

And yet, speed is only part of the story. Instant payments are the rails—open banking also provides access to the insights that run on top.

Open banking: adding intelligence to speed

In Europe, open banking has been the quiet revolution behind payments. With a player’s consent, open banking allows operators to connect directly to their bank accounts to:

• Verify their identity instantly (no need for manual document uploads)
• Confirm their source of funds for compliance
• Check affordability indicators to support responsible gambling measures

It’s safe, secure, and built on regulated Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)—not screen-scraping or unverified data.

For iGaming operators, this is a game-changer. Not only can you move money faster, but you can also make smarter decisions about who you’re serving, how you’re protecting them, and whether transactions are genuine.

Responsible gambling: from buzzword to baseline

In the UK and Europe, responsible gambling—or safer gambling—has moved from a box-ticking exercise to a central operational priority. Regulators expect operators to intervene before harm occurs, not after.

Open banking has become one of the most effective tools for doing that. With a player’s permission, operators can see financial patterns that point to risk—for example:

• Sudden spikes in deposits
• Multiple credit sources funding gambling
• Irregular income patterns that suggest financial stress

In the US, the groundwork for the same capability is already being laid at a federal level. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is advancing open banking regulation under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which would give consumers the right to share their financial data securely with third parties of their choosing. That means the infrastructure for consent-based financial insights—the same kind that powers responsible gambling tools in Europe—is being shaped by an official government body, not a private initiative. For operators, that’s a strong signal: the regulatory direction is clear, and those who build with open banking in mind now will be ahead of the curve when the rules land.

Responsible gambling requirements are evolving rapidly. States are setting their own standards, but the direction is clear: operators will need to prove they’re taking proactive steps. Open banking is the most direct way to get there.

The momentum is already visible in practice. Every major US sportsbook—DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, bet365—has now voluntarily banned credit card deposits, and a growing number of states are codifying that into law. That shift doesn’t just remove a source of player harm—it creates a gap in the payments mix that bank-based methods like Pay by Bank are ideally placed to fill. Even before formal responsible gambling regulation catches up, the industry is moving toward payment methods that are inherently safer and more transparent.

Yaspa: proven iGaming expertise, now in the US

Open banking and instant payments aren’t just buzzwords for us—they’re what we do.

At Yaspa, we’ve spent years working with operators in some of the most highly regulated gambling markets in the world. We understand the operational pressures of high-volume payments, the compliance challenges of player verification, and the importance of getting responsible gambling right—not just to meet regulation, but to build long-term trust.

We’re already working with US operators from our Atlanta base, backed by the same team and technology that powers iGaming payments across the UK and Europe. Here’s what we bring to the table:

• Instant deposits via Guaranteed ACH and real-time withdrawals over RTP and FedNow.
• Intelligent Payments—real-time player insights including verification, source-of-funds checks, affordability indicators, and markers of harm, all assisted by AI.
• Pan-operator customer insights—behavioral and transactional pattern detection across multiple operators, surfacing fraud risk, bonus abuse, and markers of harm before they escalate.
• Responsible gambling by design—tools that protect players without adding friction.

The bottom line

The US is at a tipping point. Instant payouts are already here, open banking regulation is on the horizon, and the operators who move first will define the standard for speed, safety, and player protection.

In the UK and Europe, we’ve already seen what happens when you get this right. Now it’s the US’s turn—and Yaspa is ready to help make it happen. Contact us today to get started.