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Payment Gateway for a Cyprus-Based Online Betting Operator

When a Patchwork of Processors Starts Costing More Than It Saves

iGaming operators in Cyprus face a payment environment that differs sharply from that of most e-commerce sectors. Banks and card networks scrutinize gambling transactions more closely, fraud and chargeback rates tend to run higher than broader e-commerce averages, and the mix of payment preferences across European and MENA markets requires both card acceptance and a solid portfolio of alternative payment methods. Running a compliant, efficient payment operation under these conditions is harder than it looks – and more expensive than many operators realize.

Problem

This Cyprus-based online betting operator was processing payments through three separate gateways. Each covered a different geography or payment type, which made sense initially but created serious operational drag over time. The finance team was reconciling reports from three platforms. The technical team was maintaining three API connections. And when a processor had an outage or tightened its rules for gambling merchants, there was no automated fallback – just a manual scramble to reroute traffic.

The chargeback rate was 2.4%, which exceeded acceptable thresholds under its card network agreements. Every tenth of a percentage point above the limit carried the risk of fines or losing card acceptance altogether. Meanwhile, payment conversion hovered around 67% – meaning roughly one in three customers who tried to deposit could not complete the transaction. For an iGaming business where speed and friction directly affect player lifetime value, that gap directly affected revenue.

The company needed a single point of control over its payment infrastructure without sacrificing coverage or adding compliance risk.

Solution

BillBlend replaced the existing three-gateway setup with a single integration. Behind the scenes, the platform routes each transaction to the optimal processor based on card BIN, customer geography, and transaction history – without the merchant needing to manage that logic manually.

The first priority was chargeback reduction. BillBlend’s fraud detection layer flagged high-risk transaction patterns specific to iGaming – velocity abuse, mismatched geolocation signals, and first-deposit fraud – before transactions were authorized. Alongside this, the chargeback management tools gave the team structured workflows for evidence submission and dispute tracking, reducing the time spent on each case from hours to minutes.

On the conversion side, BillBlend added local payment methods that the company’s previous processors didn’t support, including several alternative payment methods (APMs) popular in Eastern Europe and the MENA region. For card payments, the smart routing logic improved bank approval rates by directing transactions through acquirers with stronger relationships in specific markets.

The integration took 11 days. The company’s development team worked directly with BillBlend’s technical team, who remained reachable outside standard business hours throughout the process.

Key takeaways

Within four months of launch, payment conversion rose from 67% to 84%. The chargeback rate dropped from 2.4% to 1.6%, bringing the company closer to the applicable card-network thresholds and reducing the compliance risk that had been building for two quarters. Consolidating three processors into one platform reduced payment processing costs by 19%, primarily by eliminating duplicate platform fees and gaining access to better interchange pricing through BillBlend’s volume arrangements.

The operations team moved from maintaining three separate integrations and reconciling three sets of reports to working from a single dashboard. That freed up roughly 15 hours per week that had previously gone to payment operations – time the team redirected to product and player experience work instead.

*Results are based on the merchant's internal payment data over the four months following implementation. Actual outcomes vary by market, acquirer, payment mix, and risk profile.

Feedback from our client

“We’d been telling ourselves the three-processor setup was flexible. In reality, it was just complicated. The chargebacks were stressful because we were close to the network thresholds, and we kept losing deposits we shouldn’t have been losing.

What changed with BillBlend was the visibility. We could finally see where transactions were failing and why. The routing logic handled things automatically that we used to manage by hand. And when we had questions during setup, someone actually responded – not a support ticket that came back three days later.

Four months in, the numbers speak for themselves. Conversion is up, chargebacks are down, and our team isn’t spending half their day firefighting payment issues.”

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