🔥 When Sportsbooks Explode, Fintechs Get Banky (again!) & Payday Gets Political | Marketing’s Most Wanted #10

Hi Marketing Wranglers,

Welcome to another week full of insights!

This week, we’re unpacking the latest in the world of sports gambling, Stripe’s big move into the banking world (but not really), and Arkansas’s fresh take on regulating Early Wage Access. We’ve got the scoop you need to navigate the changes and plan ahead.

🚨 In This Week’s Issue

🎰 Bet Smart or Bet Sorry: The sports gambling showdown and why the stakes are higher now.
🏦 Stripe Gets (Sorta) Banky: But don’t call it a bank, just yet.
💵 Early Pay, New Playbook: Arkansas regulates Earned Wage Access.

🎰 Bet Smart or Bet Sorry: The Sports Gambling Showdown

The sports betting boom has turned into a regulatory rollercoaster that would make even the most seasoned compliance officer reach for the motion sickness bag. Since the Supreme Court opened the floodgates in 2018, Americans have wagered a mind-boggling $500 BILLION on sports, with over one-third of adults getting in on the action.

But behind those flashy betting apps and celebrity-packed commercials lies a sobering reality: skyrocketing bankruptcy rates, depleted savings accounts, and a concerning surge in gambling addiction—especially among young men glued to their phones during the big game.

Why Is Regulating Sports Betting so Hard?

Picture this: You're a compliance officer trying to wrangle the sports betting industry. You might as well be trying to nail jello to a wall! Here's why:

🎯 The Regulation Backfire Effect: Remember when the UK banned credit cards for gambling? Plot twist! Problem gamblers just started taking out cash advances instead. Oops! It's like telling someone they can't have cookies, so they eat cake instead.

🎯 The Whack-a-Mole Game: Just when you think you've got legal sportsbooks under control, companies like Robinhood and Kalshi pop up with "prediction markets" on NCAA games. Are they betting platforms? Are they "contract exchanges"? Whatever you call them, they're operating in all 50 states while traditional sportsbooks are crying foul.

🎯 The Regulatory Shell Game: When state gambling commissions say "no," these crafty newcomers just shop for a different regulator! As one industry analyst bluntly asked: "Do gambling laws even matter anymore?" (Spoiler alert: your compliance team still needs to follow them!)

What This Means For Your Marketing Team

If your marketing department thinks navigating social media disclosures is tough, the sports betting compliance landscape is like playing 4D chess... blindfolded... while riding a unicycle. Your teams are facing:

• A patchwork of state regulations that change faster than sports betting odds

• Competitors exploiting loopholes big enough to drive a branded tour bus through

• The challenge of creating engaging ads that won't land you in regulatory hot water

• The impossible task of staying competitive without crossing ethical lines

As multiple states issue cease-and-desist orders and lawmakers revive legislation like the SAFE Bet Act, the industry's previous strategy of rapid expansion before regulation is proving problematic. Forward-thinking companies are proactively developing adaptable compliance frameworks instead of merely reacting to new regulations as they emerge.

Read more here.

🏦 Stripe Gets (Sorta) Banky — But Don’t Call It a Bank

Stripe just got a major power-up: Georgia’s Department of Banking and Finance approved its application for a Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter. What does that mean? Basically, Stripe is getting closer to the money — without technically becoming a bank.

With this move, Stripe can now plug directly into Visa and Mastercard, skipping the middlemen (a.k.a. BIN sponsors) that typically slow down payments and hike up fees. Translation? Faster payouts, fewer hands in the pot, and happier merchants.

Not Becoming a Bank—Just Working Smarter

Before anyone starts picturing Stripe branches popping up next to their local coffee shops, the company wants to be crystal clear: this is NOT about becoming a traditional bank. There won't be:

• Stripe checking accounts

• Mortgage loans

• Deposit-taking activities

A Stripe spokesperson explained this is simply the next logical step as their business grows. They're already doing direct membership in nine other countries, including the UK, so America was the natural next frontier.

Why This Matters for Businesses

For merchants using Stripe's services, this could mean:

• Faster payment processing (no more waiting for money to bounce between multiple parties)

• Potentially lower fees (fewer middlemen = fewer hands in the payment cookie jar)

• Simplified payment flows (direct connections mean fewer potential points of failure)

This puts Stripe in an exclusive club—they're only the third company to receive this special charter since it was created in 2012. Fiserv joined the party last fall, and before that, only Credorax (later known as Finaro before being acquired by Shift4) had made the cut.

The Bigger Picture

This move represents an interesting trend where tech-focused payment companies are finding ways to optimize their operations while working within regulatory frameworks. They're not trying to replace banks—they're just streamlining the parts of the payment process where banks aren't absolutely necessary.

Georgia's special charter requires Stripe to maintain specific capital requirements based on payment volume, combining traditional banking standards with European regulatory frameworks.

Read more on PYMNTS.

💵 Early Pay, New Playbook: Arkansas Regulates EWA

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders recently signed a new law laying out guardrails for Earned Wage Access (EWA) providers — those apps that let you get paid before payday. However, she stopped s

hort of calling them what many critics believe they are: short-term loans in disguise.

The new law requires EWA companies to clearly disclose fees, offer at least one free option, and make it clear that tipping is voluntary (finally addressing that sneaky guilt-trippy checkout screen of most apps).

But here’s the twist: providers are still not being asked to follow lending laws.

The States Are Stepping Up

Arkansas joins states like Missouri, Nevada, and Utah in crafting laws tailored for EWA products. While these bills aim to increase transparency and consumer protections, they avoid classifying EWA as credit — a move the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had been pushing for before the Elon takeover.

We’ve been saying it for weeks, but the second Trump-era is expected to put more regulatory power in the hands of individual states. And some, like Utah, seem totally fine with that. Its EWA bill (still waiting for the governor’s signature) mirrors Arkansas’, with bipartisan backing and strong support from the fintech industry.

Not Everyone’s Clapping

While EWA companies like DailyPay and EarnIn praised the law for providing “clarity without overreach,” consumer advocates are calling foul. They argue that without lending oversight, workers — particularly hourly earners making under $50K — risk falling into a cycle of wage advances and fees.

Lauren Saunders from the National Consumer Law Center called it “a new form of payday loan with no cost cap,” warning that it could gut existing consumer protections. Workers themselves have shared stories about becoming dependent on EWA services, essentially borrowing from their own future paychecks just to get by.

State-by-State Chess or Regulatory Chaos?

With Congress still undecided on federal EWA legislation, the map is getting patchier by the month. Phil Goldfeder, CEO of the American Fintech Council, supports state-level innovation but warns that “fragmented rulemaking” could cause more confusion than clarity — especially for users who rely on these services the most.

Some see this state-led approach as a temporary win — others, a ticking time bomb. Either way, it’s clear that the future of EWA is being shaped at the state level. Whether that’s a blueprint for better access or a loophole for disguised lending? That’s still up for debate.

Want to know more? Check out Payments Dive

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