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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 acquiring banks that already understand the category.
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At a glance
By the numbers
10,000+
Merchants approved across high-risk industries.
86%
Approval rate for the high-risk merchants who apply.
24hr
Average approval time once underwriting has your documents.
$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. Recurring billing support covers season-long leagues and memberships, so renewals run through the same account as one-off contest entries.
Pricing
Pricing starts at interchange plus 0.80%. Every fee — including any reserve terms — is disclosed in the merchant service agreement before you sign, so there is no reserve or rate you discover after your first settlement.
Most merchants are approved within 24 hours. Approval moves fastest when your file is complete, which is why the documentation list below matters.
Getting set up
Tell us about your platform, your contests, and your projected monthly volume.
Provide the items in the underwriting checklist below so your file is complete before a bank reviews it.
Our underwriting team reviews the file, flags gaps, and matches it to the bank partner best suited to your profile.
Accept deposits, contest entries, and league fees — with next-day funding so cash flow keeps pace with player activity.
Underwriting
Acquiring banks typically ask fantasy sports merchants for:
Beyond documents, underwriters weigh the shape of the business:
You do not have to navigate underwriting alone. Our team reviews your file, flags gaps before a bank sees them, and matches the application to the acquiring bank partners best suited to your profile.
For a fuller picture of the review, read what to expect during merchant account underwriting.
Classification
Card networks place sportsbooks, casinos, and other real-money wagering businesses into managed-risk merchant categories. A sportsbook managed-risk merchant must:
Daily fantasy sports sits next to that classification rather than inside it. Because DFS contests are structured as skill-based games rather than wagers on live outcomes, many states regulate them separately from sports betting. Acquiring banks still underwrite DFS operators as high-risk, though, and often apply managed-risk-level scrutiny to contest structure, player fund handling, and state-by-state eligibility.
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. If your business takes real-money wagers on live sporting events, that is a sportsbook — a separate underwriting path covered by our sports betting merchant account solutions.
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 24/7 customer support 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.
