Inspired machines add OKTO mobile cashless payments in the UK

The digital payments solution company OKTO announced Monday that it has teamed up with Inspired Entertainment, a leading UK supplier of gaming solutions to the family entertainment, pubs and motorways service sectors, to expand the network of gaming machines in the UK. This deal marks the start of a partnership between the two companies across different channels. 

In response to the increasing demand for a cashless ecosystem, the fintech provider will offer its fully licensed OKTO WALLET electronic money payment platform on Inspired gaming machines across UK pubs.

The partnership secures broader payment options for consumers and increases customer engagement and footfall, in a post-pandemic boost to the leisure and gaming sectors. The OKTO app includes a secure Know Your Customer (KYC) process along with age verification and also provides facilities for consumers to enable transaction limits and time-out breaks.

This collaboration will enable clients to deposit and withdraw funds on gaming machines “in a safe, transparent, seamless and fast way through the OKTO mobile app while, at the same time, benefitting from the use of a range of integrated social responsibility tools designed to enhance player protection and encourage safer gambling”, the company stated in an official press release. 

“Meeting all the niche demands of the leisure and gaming sectors and their users, the OKTO.WALLET platform allows pubgoers to move funds instantly across the entire payment ecosystem via the open and interconnected OKTO mobile app that can be used in all touchpoints of the venue and beyond through the OKTO Prepaid Mastercard linked to the users’ OKTO wallet account”, the company stated.

The solution will be launched with Inspired’s key Pub retail partners in September and will be available on Inspired’s latest range of Category C gaming products.

Simon Dorsen, Director of Gaming at OKTO, spoke in a press release about this collaboration and said: “Inspired is a major supplier to the UK Pub and Gaming sector and this collaboration along with other recently announced partners in the sector, strengthens OKTO’s position as the go to mobile payments app for consumers and operators in the leisure sector”. 

“Digital payments for F&B sales are surging in pubs due to the pandemic accelerating changing habits, and now OKTO enables pubs to extend and satisfy their customers’ desire for digital payments also at the gaming machines”, he continued.

“Our easy-to-use solution allows players to go simply to a gaming machine, press a button to use OKTO, and deposit funds to start playing. And it is the same in the cashout; they get the winnings back to the OKTO wallet in real-time. Alongside, we can also onboard pubs as merchants, if OKTO users can spend some money on food and drink in the pub, they simply can, and they can also split the bill with their friends or send and receive money from their friends using simply the OKTO app”, he stated. 

Peter Davies, Managing Director of the Leisure business at Inspired, also commented: “From our initial introduction to OKTO we were extremely impressed by the breadth of knowledge and experience of cashless payment solutions demonstrated by the OKTO team. Their understanding and practical knowledge of the gaming sector in particular have allowed them to develop a mobile payment solution that fits perfectly into our product offer”.

“In particular the focus on player protection and social responsibility stood out, together with the simplicity of the solution itself. We are delighted to be working in close collaboration with OKTO and are looking forward to rolling the solution out in conjunction with our customers and offering machine players a safe, secure and feature rich alternative to cash”, he concluded.