iGaming Payment Solutions
Equals Money Review
Is It the Right Account Provider for Your iGaming Business?
The FairFX lineage grown into a two-license London group, private since April 2025 and merged with Railsr, offering the gambling business a multi-currency account, Mastercard cards and a specialist account manager, with the accepted-license list left unsaid.
London, United KingdomQuick Info
- Type
- Payment institution
- Class
- Own license
- Regulator
- Financial Conduct Authority
- License
- 488396
- HQ
- London, United Kingdom
- Pricing
- Published
Our Verdict: Should You Bank With Equals Money?
Final assessment for iGaming operators, studios and affiliates
Tier 2: register-verified and gambling stated on its own site
Summary
Equals Money runs its accounts under an FCA payment institution authorization in its own name (488396, Equals Money PLC) and its cards under a sister e-money license (900493, Equals Money International Ltd), with no agent layer in between. The account is multi-currency with virtual IBANs, and it reaches Faster Payments, SEPA, SEPA Instant and SWIFT, with FX rate locking, Mastercard cards, expense management, an API and a white-label option, plus a USDC-to-fiat off-ramp and open-banking deposit collection. The group went private in April 2025, when Alakazam Holdings BidCo (TowerBrook, J.C. Flowers and former Railsr shareholders) took it off AIM and merged it with Railsr. Its record is the cleanest in this section: no regulator action, a published price list, and a Trustpilot score of 4.7 on 587 reviews with one-star reviews at 5%. The iGaming commitment is thinner than the infrastructure. The entire pitch to gaming is an industry-specialist account manager; no gambling license is named as accepted, no onboarding time is given, and no client is named.
Strongest Point
Counterparty quality. Equals pairs two FCA authorizations in its own name with a spotless enforcement record and the highest Trustpilot score in this section, and its UK domestic rail (Faster Payments) sits next to SEPA Instant and SWIFT on one account, so a UK-licensed operator or a supplier paying in both GBP and EUR does not need a second provider for the other currency. The Mastercard card and expense layer on the same group license is a practical bonus for a distributed operations team.
Key Limitation
Commitment to the vertical. Equals addresses iGaming in one sentence, promising a specialist account manager, and stops there: which licenses pass its risk appetite (MGA, UKGC, Curaçao) goes unsaid, and so do the onboarding time and any client name. The open-banking deposit feature collects pay-by-bank payments but is not acquiring, so it does not replace a cashier PSP. A second FCA entity, Equals Money UK Ltd, trades as Card One Money under a separate number (504547) and is easy to confuse with the iGaming product.
Recommendation
Use Equals Money as the GBP and EUR treasury account for a UK- or EU-licensed operation, or as the card and expense layer for a team that already banks elsewhere, and ask in the first call which gambling licenses it accepts, since it names none. Check that the published rates apply to a gaming client rather than a risk-priced tariff. Do not plan on the open-banking deposits as a cashier rail; that is a collection feature on a treasury account.
Pros
- Two FCA authorizations in its own name: PI 488396 for the accounts, EMI 900493 for the cards, no agent layer
- Faster Payments, SEPA, SEPA Instant and SWIFT from one account, with FX rate locking
- Mastercard cards and expense management on the same platform
- Published pricing page
- Trustpilot 4.7 on 587 reviews, one-star share 5%, and no regulator action
- USDC-to-fiat off-ramp and open-banking deposit collection
Cons
- No gambling licenses named as accepted
- No onboarding time stated
- No named iGaming clients; the iGaming pitch is one sentence
- Open-banking deposits are a collection feature, not acquiring
- Sister entity Equals Money UK Ltd (Card One Money) shares the name under a separate FCA number
Ready to open the conversation with Equals Money?
Gambling Policy, in the Provider's Own Words
What the company itself says about serving iGaming, and how we read it
“Industry-specialist account manager who understands the gaming industry”
Our reading
iGaming has its own use case, and the whole pitch is a specialist account manager. Accepted gambling licenses, client types and onboarding time are not stated.
Licenses named as accepted
Client types named
License, Read in the Register
Entity, license type and number as the regulator prints them, with the date we read the entry
| Regulator | Entity | Type · number | Status | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Conduct Authority | Equals Money PLC | Payment institution · 488396 | Authorised Payment Institution (since May 31, 2018) | Sep 1, 2026, regulator's extract |
| Financial Conduct Authority | Equals Money International Ltd | E-money institution · 900493 | Authorised Electronic Money Institution (since May 21, 2018) | Sep 1, 2026, regulator's extract |
- Legal entity
- Equals Money PLC, 05539698
- Headquarters
- London, United Kingdom
- Founded
- 2007
- Class
- Own license
Safeguarding of client money
Safeguarding of client funds is stated; where the funds are held is not published.
The Account
What the operator actually gets on the account, and what it costs to open
| Feature | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| IBAN in your company's name | Available | Dedicated account, not a pooled reference |
| SEPA | Available | Faster Payments, SEPA Instant, SEPA Credit Transfer, open banking pay-by-bank collection |
| SEPA Instant | Available | Instant euro transfers |
| SWIFT | Available | Multi-currency account with virtual IBANs; the currency count is not stated |
| Cards | Available | Corporate cards on the account |
| API | Available | Programmatic access to payments and reporting |
| Bulk payouts | Available | Batch payments for affiliates and suppliers |
| Crypto or stablecoins | Available | USDC to fiat off-ramp |
| Card acquiring as well | Not available | Accounts only, no player collection |
Onboarding
- Non-EU companies
- Not stated
- Time to open
- Not stated
- Licenses named
- Not stated
Pricing, published
A public pricing page exists. Whether a gaming client pays the listed rates or a risk-priced tariff is not stated.
Named Clients and Reputation
Who vouches for the provider on the record, and what its own customers say
Named iGaming clients
None named on a first-party source. Every operator using this provider does so without a public reference.
Reputation
587 reviews, 5% one-star, read Sep 1, 2026.
Not to be confused with: Equals Money UK Ltd, FCA 504547, trades as Card One Money and is a sister entity, not the iGaming account provider. FairFX, from 2007, is the same group's older consumer brand.
Frequently Asked Questions
4 questions about Equals Money
No. Equals Money PLC is an FCA-authorized payment institution, and its sister company Equals Money International Ltd is an authorized e-money institution; the accounts run under the first and the cards under the second. Equals states that client funds are safeguarded.
Yes. iGaming has its own use case with a specialist account manager attached. Which licenses qualify is not stated, so ask before you send the application.
Alakazam Holdings BidCo, backed by TowerBrook, J.C. Flowers and former Railsr shareholders, took Equals Group private in April 2025, delisted it from AIM and merged it with Railsr. The FairFX brand from 2007 belongs to the same lineage.
Equals collects deposits through open-banking pay-by-bank, but it does not offer acquiring, so the account is a treasury and collection tool rather than a cashier. Card deposits still need a PSP.