86% of merchants who apply are approved. No setup fees, no hidden costs.
Get Started FreeHigh-Risk Industries · Fantasy Sports
Daily fantasy sports is a legitimate, growing business, but most processors underwrite it like a liability. If you run paid contests, you have likely been declined, or approved and then restricted once volume ramped. We work exclusively with high-risk merchants, and we place fantasy sports accounts with banks that already work with the category.
Be approval-ready
At a glance
By the numbers
10,000+
Merchants approved across high-risk industries.
86%
Approval rate for the high-risk merchants who apply.
20+
Banking partners, so each application goes to a bank that accepts its industry.
$2B+
Processed annually through PayKings merchant accounts.
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High-risk designation
Three things drive the classification:
None of that makes your platform unbankable. It means the account has to be placed with a bank that underwrites the vertical, with risk controls in place from day one. With 20+ acquiring bank partners, we match your file to a bank that already works with fantasy sports — rather than a mainstream processor that approves the account today and restricts it once volume ramps.
What's included
Fantasy sports payment processing has to handle the full player money cycle, not just the deposit step. Every account we place includes:
Most players fund their accounts with a card, which makes fantasy sports credit card processing the backbone of a DFS business — and the piece acquiring banks scrutinize hardest.
If your platform also sells digital products such as premium stats, projections, or season passes, payment processing for digital goods runs through the same account rather than a second provider.
Pricing
We do not quote one blanket rate for every DFS operator, because underwriting does not work that way: pricing reflects your volume, your processing history, and the bank your file is placed with.
Every fee is disclosed in the merchant service agreement before you sign. Reserve terms, where they apply, appear in the same agreement.
Getting set up
Tell us about your platform, your contests, and your projected monthly volume.
Provide the items in the checklist below so your file is complete before a bank reviews it.
Our team reviews the file, flags gaps before a bank sees them, and matches the application to the acquiring bank partner best suited to your profile.
Accept deposits, contest entries, and league fees through your live account.
Underwriting
Have these ready before a bank reviews your file:
Beyond documents, underwriters weigh the shape of the business:
For a fuller picture of the review, read what to expect during merchant account underwriting.
Classification
Legally, it depends on where your players are. Because DFS contests are structured as games of skill rather than wagers on live outcomes, many states regulate them separately from sports betting — some require registration, some set consumer-protection rules, and some restrict paid contests outright.
Acquiring banks underwrite DFS as high-risk either way, and they apply managed-risk-level scrutiny to contest structure, player fund handling, and state-by-state eligibility.
Card networks place sportsbooks, casinos, and other real-money wagering businesses into managed-risk merchant categories, with their own registration requirements, merchant category codes, and licensing documentation. DFS sits next to that classification, not inside it.
If your business takes real-money wagers on live sporting events, that is a sportsbook, and it follows a separate underwriting path covered by our sports betting merchant account solutions. We support merchants across the full range of high-risk processing industries and can tell you how banks are likely to classify your model before you apply.
Why PayKings
An account that is approved today and restricted once volume ramps is worse than a clean decline. The fantasy sports merchant accounts we place are matched to acquiring banks that underwrite the vertical deliberately — which is how you avoid the account closures and fund holds that follow a mismatched placement.
You run the platform; we manage the processing side — fraud monitoring, chargeback support, and a team you can reach once your account is live.
What's included
The difference
Built for the businesses other processors turn away.
FAQ
Everything you need to know about high-risk payment processing
See how PayKings supports adjacent verticals and the payment solutions that pair with them.
