Land-Based Casinos Face 'Amazon-Style' Disruption Without Payments Overhaul
Land-based casino operators risk facing Amazon-style disruption if they don't remove friction from how customers pay to play, a payments industry executive told CDC Gaming in an interview published this week.
James Warden, chief revenue officer of the real-money gaming investment segment of epay, a division of Euronet Worldwide that invests in and provides technology for gaming payments firms Koin and Marker Trax, said operators need to stop dictating how customers transact and instead let them pay however they prefer.
Amazon Comparison From Former Microsoft Exec
“If a customer wants to use cash, let them. If they want to use digital currency or a wallet or crypto, let them,” Warden said. “Don't force them or block them or charge them extra. You've got to allow them to transact the way they want to, how they want to, when they want to. If you create friction, they will go somewhere that doesn't.”
Before joining epay, Warden worked at Microsoft, where he watched Amazon grow from a minor retail partner into one of the company's largest in under a year by rejecting the traditional retailer approach and putting control in the customer's hands.
He argued gaming is undergoing a similar shift, and operators that don't adapt their payment and loyalty systems to match modern consumer habits risk losing customers to more digitally fluent competitors.
A Widening Competitive Set
Warden said the competitive threat to land-based casinos extends well beyond the property down the road.
Commercial online casino and gambling revenue in the US hit $6.07 billion in the first half of 2026, up 18.5% year-on-year, while commercial sports betting revenue rose 4.1% to $8.7 billion over the same period, according to American Gaming Association figures he cited.
He urged operators to look at where newer customers spend their entertainment money across generations, including non-casino formats built on the same “turn $1 into $2” appeal as traditional games like roulette.
At the same time, Warden cautioned against ignoring traditional casino competitors entirely in pursuit of emerging formats, arguing that operators need a holistic view of both.
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