Snaitech CEO: Regulated space hamstrung by black market’s crypto acceptance
Fabio Schiavolin says regulated operators will continue to lose players to the black market due to popularity of illegal payment method, and there has been too slow a reaction to assess crypto as a payment option
Snaitech CEO Fabio Schiavolin has called on regulators to update their framework and begin accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment or continue losing customers to the black market.
On a World Regulatory Briefing panel at ICE Barcelona, alongside Entain CEO Gavin Isaacs and evoke boss Per Widerström, Schiavolin noted that cryptocurrency as a form of payment is seen as a faster, cost-effective option for operators and is popular among the next generation of gamblers.
Crypto-centric operators have risen to the fore in recent years, spearheaded by Stake, with the Australia-based operator becoming one of the largest gambling businesses in the world.
Other brands such as Rollbit, Roobet and Yolo Entertainment have made significant dents in markets, while FanDuel founder Nigel Eccles unveiled crypto-first brand BetHog last year.
Other businesses such as MyPrize and Monkey Tilt have secured significant capital via funding raises using crypto as a core USP.
However, regulated markets have been reticent to approve crypto as a payment method, while some regulators have hit out at the digital currency in recent years.
In 2021, French regulator the ANJ blacklisted CBet and Stake, noting the “use of cryptocurrency is prohibited on the sites of authorised operators who are required to fight against fraud, money laundering and the financing of terrorism”.
Australia last year banned crypto alongside credit cards and credit-related products as a method for online betting.
Discussing taking crypto as a form of payment, Schiavolin called on regulators to update the necessary framework as crypto is the “present” for the industry.
The Snaitech boss said: “There’s a little bit of lack of speed on the regulatory side to assess and update the regulatory framework.
“But that’s not the future, it’s the present. The crypto environment is much more democratic, it’s much more cost effective.
“It’s a real trend already ongoing [with] the young generation. I think that’s another area in which we are losing competition to the unregulated market because all the unregulated [operators] are ready to give solutions [about crypto]. It’s an issue.”
The Italian went on to note that payment costs, if an operator is live in various markets, can snowball into a significant sum and that crypto could act as a solution.
Entain’s Isaacs admitted that while it is cheaper for operators to take crypto, it remains unregulated, and that a commitment to the existing frameworks would mean the FTSE 100 firm wouldn’t venture into the space.
He added: “It’s an unregulated form of payment. It’s very easy to pick payments or any one aspect of it and say, ‘I want to be regulated, but I want to be unregulated in that aspect’.
“I think it’s an all-or-none kind of principle. When that form of payment is accepted by the regulatory community, of course you want to jump on it.”
Snaitech was sold to Flutter Entertainment last September for €2.3bn, with completion of the deal due in Q2 2025.