Stripe classifies gambling, iGaming and fantasy sports as "restricted businesses" and terminates accounts the moment its risk engine spots them. If your application was rejected — or your live account was shut down and reserves frozen — you need a processor that underwrites gaming as a primary vertical, not an exception. Here's how FalconPay compares.
| Feature | FalconPay | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| iGaming & casino support | ✓ Primary vertical | ✗ Prohibited business |
| Fantasy sports & sportsbook | ✓ Fully supported | ✗ Restricted |
| Merchant approval time | 48 hours (gaming-specific underwriting) | Instant sign-up, then offboarded |
| Reserve & fund freezes | None — standard T+1 payouts | Up to 180-day rolling reserves |
| Stablecoin settlement (USDT / USDC) | ✓ Native, multi-chain | ✗ Not available for gaming |
| India UPI for real-money gaming | ✓ 98.5% success, direct bank rails | ✗ Not supported |
| Brazil PIX | ✓ Real-time pay-ins & payouts | Limited, not gaming |
| SEPA + European local cards | ✓ 36 countries, gambling-cleared | Cards only, no gaming |
| Chargeback representment | Fully managed in-house | Self-service dashboard |
| Licence-aware underwriting (MGA, UKGC, Curacao) | ✓ Dedicated compliance team | ✗ Generic KYB only |
| Dedicated account manager | ✓ From day one | ✗ Email support until enterprise |
| Pricing for high-risk | Transparent, volume-based | 2.9% + 30¢ (if approved) |
Most of the operators who come to us have the same story — they started on Stripe because the docs were clean, the dashboard was elegant, and the integration took an afternoon. Then the first chargeback wave hit, or the risk engine caught a "gaming" keyword in a transaction descriptor, and the conversation changed fast.
Stripe's public policy prohibits gambling, iGaming, sports betting, lotteries, and fantasy sports. It doesn't matter if you hold an MGA or UKGC licence — the policy is global and non-negotiable. FalconPay is underwritten from the ground up for these verticals.
Policy, not riskWhen Stripe's risk model decides a merchant is gaming-related, it typically freezes 100% of incoming volume for 180 days. Operators have publicly reported six- and seven-figure holds. FalconPay operates on standard T+1 settlement with no surprise reserves for licensed operators.
Cash-flow killerStripe's international coverage is strong for SaaS but weak where iGaming actually converts. You can't process real-money UPI in India, and PIX support for gambling is effectively non-existent. FalconPay has bank-direct UPI and PIX as core products.
Emerging marketsRegulated operators increasingly settle in USDT or USDC to escape banking friction and FX bleed. Stripe doesn't offer this for gaming. FalconPay settles in USDT and USDC across ETH, TRX, BSC, Polygon, and Solana — treasury flexibility Stripe simply won't build.
Crypto-nativeOur underwriters know the difference between a Curacao master licence and a sub-licence, what UKGC Section 10 means, and why MGA's Type 1 matters. Stripe's generic KYB isn't set up for that. When regulators ask questions, the answers come from us, not you.
Built for gamingiGaming chargeback rates are structurally higher than e-commerce. Stripe hands you the dispute portal and walks away. We run representment internally, fight friendly-fraud claims with gaming-specific evidence (login logs, IP history, wagering patterns), and keep your ratio healthy.
Managed disputesThe pattern is predictable. You launch on Stripe because it's what your developer already integrated with. Volumes ramp up. Somewhere between month one and month three, Stripe's automated risk system notices a cluster of transaction descriptors that look like gaming — or a chargeback percentage creeping past the 0.9% threshold — and flags the account for review.
First comes the email asking for additional documentation. Then the rolling reserve: 30% of incoming volume held for 120 days. Then the full offboarding notice, usually giving you 30 days to wind down. By the time you're reading that email, your next settlement is already on hold.
Stripe is genuinely excellent at what it does — processing low-risk e-commerce at scale with minimal merchant friction. Its risk engine, reserve policies, and product design are all calibrated for that use case. Gambling sits at the opposite end of the spectrum: higher chargebacks, more complex licensing, regulatory obligations that vary per jurisdiction, and treasury flows that don't match SaaS. Stripe's choice to exclude it isn't hostile, it's architectural.
We built FalconPay because no one was building a serious processor for licensed iGaming operators outside of a handful of legacy high-risk banks with 1990s UX. Our onboarding takes 48 hours because we actually read your licence and your AML policy instead of pattern-matching your MCC code. Our success rates in India and Brazil are higher because we sit on direct banking rails rather than aggregating through third parties. And our chargeback team has handled tens of thousands of gaming disputes, so the representment pack is already written.
To be fair — if your product is pure B2B SaaS, affiliate marketing without merchant accounts, or media subscriptions with no gambling angle, Stripe is probably still the right choice. We won't try to talk you out of it. FalconPay is the right choice when gaming, gambling, or adjacent high-risk verticals are the core of your revenue.
Yes, provided you hold a valid gaming licence in the jurisdictions you operate in and your payment processor is regulated to serve those markets. FalconPay works only with licensed operators (MGA, UKGC, Curacao, Kahnawake, Anjouan, state-level US, etc.) and our own compliance stack is audited accordingly.
In most cases, yes. Our API follows a similar REST + webhooks pattern to Stripe, so engineering lift is typically 1–2 sprints. We also provide a Stripe-compatible checkout shim for operators that want to parallel-run before cutting over.
Pricing depends on volume, vertical, and target markets. Licensed iGaming operators typically see blended rates meaningfully lower than Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ — especially in emerging markets where FalconPay has direct rails. We publish a volume-tiered MSA so there are no hidden fees.
Unfortunately we can't release Stripe reserves — only Stripe can — but we can get you processing again on FalconPay within 48 hours so you're not bleeding revenue while you negotiate with them. Several of our current customers migrated mid-freeze.
Yes. FalconPay supports player-facing crypto deposits (BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC across major chains) alongside card, bank, UPI, and PIX methods — with settlement back to the merchant in your currency of choice, fiat or stablecoin.
48-hour approval. No 180-day reserves. Real rails for India, Brazil, and Europe. Stablecoin settlement if you want it.