As more sports facilities digitize payments for tickets, concessions and incentive marketing, FIS is building a broader bundle at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., combining payments with data analytics, worker-reimbursements and online sports gaming.
The BetMGM Sportsbook at Nationals Park, powered by FIS, is the first retail sportsbook connection to a Major League Baseball stadium, marking a milestone in FIS’s ambitions to play a bigger role in sports-related payments and gaming, according to Kristin Kowalski, managing director of sports and entertainment at the Jacksonville, Florida-based FIS.
“Fans can use a mobile app and digital wallet to bet on all types of games and they can also walk into the retail location at the ballpark, which is convenient for local users as sportsbooks become more popular across the U.S.,” Kowalski said.
By tapping into the demand for sports gaming, FIS is attempting to broaden its appeal in a competitive market to upgrade sports stadiums and other event venues to accept cashless payments to improve efficiency and use payments data to enrich sports teams' loyalty and marketing programs.
Adding support for onsite sports betting at a Major League facility is the first such U.S. venture for FIS, which has expertise in supporting online gaming in other markets. Worldpay from FIS processes transactions for more than 200 online gaming operators globally.
At Nationals Park, FIS processes payments through BetMGM’s mobile channels and through a stand-alone retail outlet connected to Nationals Park, which is accessible year-round through an entrance separate from where fans enter for baseball games.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a rule prohibiting online sports betting in 2018, 33 states have legalized it and FIS has been expanding its support of the industry through various channels.
A growing number of banks are participating in online sports betting across the U.S. as the highly regulated industry matures, according to Christopher Granger, Visa's head of gaming, wagering and lottery operations, who spoke at the Electronic Transactions Association conference in Las Vegas earlier this month.
BetMGM, a joint venture between MGM and London-based Entain, last year said it planned to expand sportsbooks with other sports team venues in the U.S. in upcoming months, including the New York Knicks, New York Rangers and Madison Square Garden.
At Nationals Park, which opened in 2008, FIS has enhanced systems to make food and other merchandise concessions cashless throughout the stadium, with “grab and go” cashierless checkout venues in development, the company said.
To use mobile and electronic ordering inside the ballpark, Nationals fans must download the MLB Ballpark app and link payment methods. Visitors can also pay directly with credit and debit cards at concessions. Cash can be exchanged for eCash, which all concessions accept, at a few locations within the ballpark.
Through its Ethos Data solution, FIS also is connecting ticket and merchandise sales data to help the Nationals build a targeted consumer rewards program for fans, Kowalski said.
“Mobile payments at the ballpark feeds into data and analytics that will help us understand fans’ preferences for more personalized marketing and loyalty,” she said.
Another element of FIS’s cashless strategy at the ballpark includes support for disbursing per diem payments for the Nationals’ MLB and minor league baseball players, as well as other employees and seasonal workers, through prepaid cards FIS will manage.
As part of its deal with the Nationals, FIS also recently become the title sponsor of the stadium’s Champions Club.
“By combining FIS’s payments technology resources with merchant processing from Worldpay by FIS, we’re elevating the experience for fans, players and merchants ,” said Kowalski, who joined FIS in 2019 and moved into her current position, a newly created role, last year.
