How to grow your payments app with gaming cafes and esports centres
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
Gaming cafes and esports centres rent out gaming PCs and consoles by the hour, run tournaments and leagues, host birthday parties and sell snacks and drinks. Players range from students topping up play time to parents booking a party for a group of children. Venues juggle walk-in payments, prepaid hours, memberships and entry fees that need collecting before a tournament starts. A payments app that sells play time and memberships by link, takes tournament entries in advance and handles party deposits can win these venues, and every player or parent who pays sees your app.
Talk to gaming venues
Ask local gaming cafes and esports centres:
- How do players pay for play time today?
- Do you sell memberships or prepaid hours, and how are they paid?
- How do players pay tournament entry fees?
- How do parents book and pay for birthday parties?
Sell play time and memberships by link
A payment link for prepaid hours or a monthly membership, shared on the venue's social pages and Discord server, means players pay before they arrive.
Collect entries and party deposits in advance
Tournament entries paid by link fill the bracket before the day, and a party deposit holds the date without back-and-forth messages.
Grow through players and parents
Gaming venues know games shops, kids' coding clubs and other leisure venues. One venue on your app can introduce the others.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
What about games and comic shops?
The games and comic shops guide covers board games, trading cards and comics, pre-orders and paid game nights and tournaments.
Games and comic shops →What about bowling alleys and escape rooms?
The bowling alleys and escape rooms guide covers group bookings, parties and work outings, with split payments.
Bowling alleys and escape rooms →Can I call it a bank?
In most countries "bank" is a protected word you can only use with a banking licence. Call it an account, a wallet, an app or a platform. The accounts and payments behind a SendPay Business platform are powered by licensed partners.
Is there a step-by-step plan I can follow?
Yes. The free launch checklist takes you from picking your people and naming your app to setting fees, going live and winning your first ten customers.
Digital bank app launch checklist →How do I start?
Pick a template, name it and preview every page before you pay. Your platform can be live on your own domain within 24 hours of confirmation.
Build my platform →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.