Sightline Payments, a FinTech company specializing in digital payment solutions, announced today that it has acquired JOINGO, a mobile engagement and loyalty platform.
According to Sightline CEO Joe Pappano, JOINGO fills a need and allows the Las Vegas-based company to control its own destiny by “enabling a turnkey bundled solution to execute on cashless.”
The acquisition of JOINGO is Sightline’s first significant investment after completing a round of funding in April that yielded $100 million.
“Think of it as a marketing mobile platform that now we’re able to embed cashless,” Pappano said during a recent interview. “We can better drive consumer engagement, understand all the touchpoints of what they’re doing with that mobile app, provide real-time messaging and rewards, and leverage that safe secure payment ecosystem or moving money in and out of a wagering account. It’s a perfect fit to create this vertically integrated solution.”
Based in Las Vegas, JOINGO’s custom-branded apps include features such as advanced analytics and reporting, target offers and messaging, and system integration. The company works with over 100 casinos, including Firekeepers Casino Hotel in Michigan, Augustine Casino in California, and Century Casinos in Missouri.
Sightline had other options but selected JOINGO in part because it shared an “entrepreneurial spirit” with the cashless solutions provider. Pappano said JOINGO’s platform and its ability to be “agile and adapt to” market movements was critical to the deal.
“The cultures are very similar,” Pappano said. “We sat down and look at various mobile providers, some that support the gaming industry and some that do not. The alignment of the culture, the people, the innovative spirit, how they operate with a sense of urgency, there was great clarity and a vision. . . . The architecture of (JOINGO’s) platform is scalable with tremendous flexibility. They just understand the gaming and entertainment market.”
What JOINGO doesn’t have is a lot of experience with cashless payment systems. Pappano noted that only one gaming operator that JOINGO works with has cashless.
He also noted that approximately 75% of gaming operators do not currently have mobile apps. With more states legalizing igaming and sports betting, and the increase of integrated casino resorts, Pappano thinks the acquisition of JOINGO adds incredible value to Sightline.
“You think about what’s going to be the nucleus to drive this single player identity, which is the financial services or the payments industry, and now you go and think about what’s going to be that storm factor,” he said. “How are consumers going to be able to engage a cashless type of solution? Now you take a look at the mobile app. All that’s coming together, and that’s why JOINGO was a perfect fit for us.”
