One year on from its commercial launch, payments app MuchBetter, is announcing a number of significant milestones and figures, as it signals its intent to ‘break the monopoly of iGaming payments’, in an industry estimated to be worth £40bn. Having launched in November 2017, key highlights and milestones after 14 months include: 

• Nearly 150,000 active users worldwide – MuchBetter is now available and fully licensed in more than 150 countries worldwide, available on Android and iOS
• 120 customers – MuchBetter is now available as a payment option across more than 120 merchant sites, with some of the biggest iGaming brands on the planet among them, including Pokerstars, 888.com, Betway, Pinnacle, LeoVegas and Lottoland, with an exceptionally strong pipeline for 2019 Q1 and Q2 with many other tier 1 operators coming on board.
• One transactions every five seconds – MuchBetter is currently processing a payment transactions every five seconds, that’s around 20,000 per day, equalling over 7.3 million single transactions annually
• 50,000 MuchBetter devices – In its first year MuchBetter has issued over 10,000 MasterCards and more than 40,000 NFC payment devices including key fobs, smart watch devices, smart reusable coffee cups and even smart bottles – as part of a marketing campaign with Lucozade and Transport for London
• 40 people strong – Starting with a founding team of just four, MuchBetter now stands at 40 full-time employees
• Multiple awards – MuchBetter was recently named Rising Star by EGaming Review Magazine and its co-founder, Jens Bader, was named one of the most significant contributors to the payments industry at this year’s PayExpo’s Payments Power 10 Awards. In addition MuchBetter was awarded Innovation of the year at the prestigious Payments Awards in November sealing a significant milestone in recognition. The company has also been shortlisted for an additional 7 awards, many of which are yet to be announced 

“MuchBetter is coming to break the iGaming payments monopoly and we’ll make no apologies for that,” said Jens Bader, MuchBetter co-founder. “For too long, legacy payments providers have raised costs with each renewal, without a thought to raising the quality of their services. With iGaming operators seeking alternatives there is a fantastic opportunity for MuchBetter to swoop in and meet the needs of iGaming operators. 

“And, our customers use their MuchBetter accounts increasingly outside of iGaming as well. The combination of the app with our free prepaid card, wearables and free peer-to-peer service demonstrates that our product proposition covers almost any payment situation and is well understood by our customers. I think we had a sensitive and balanced approach with an enticing B2C proposition, riding on a B2B commercial model. Let’s face it, we have driven a new, global payment service into the market in less than 14 months, without any reliance on external investment. I like to think that we have a very solid commercial model that is also viable for us in the long term, and better for operators in the short term too.”   

MuchBetter’s key features 

• MuchBetter is available on Android and iOS
• The app uses biometric authentication or pin numbers to make payments, no passwords or security questions to remember
• Users can pay their contacts in seconds using their mobile number
• The freeze card functionality means users can freeze their physical MuchBetter card within the app if it is lost or stolen
• MuchBetter’s unique dynamic CVV (a CVV number which is randomly generated in-app) means that the card can’t be used by criminals if it lost or stolen, nor can cybercriminals steal this information, and also making any MuchBetter card transaction compliant under the strong customer authentication requirements (SCA/PSD2)

The maths behind MuchBetter’s commercial model 

(Traditional gaming payment wallets) a player moves £10,000 from their payment wallet into their gaming account, later removes £8,000 – fees are charged for £18,000 in transaction volumes 

(MuchBetter) a player moves £10,000 from their MuchBetter wallet into gaming account, later removes £8,000 back to MuchBetter – fees are charged for the £,2000 balance only.