Choice Digital said on May 7, 2026 that monthly payouts issued for clients had passed $100 million. Gift cards formed part of the menu alongside prepaid cards, bank transfers, digital wallets and cheques. The figure measures client payout value issued, not the platform’s revenue or gift-card sales alone. [S01]
Separate 2026 research now published by the company helps explain the commercial role of that menu: recipients’ selections vary with both the alternatives offered and the payout amount. The observations below come from its public platform analyses reviewed on October 19, 2026. They do not provide a prior monthly volume or explain how the May milestone was reached. [S04] [S05]
A gift card’s share depends on the alternatives offered
The Colorado-based company provides disbursement technology for utilities, energy programmes and other organisations paying rebates, incentives and obligations. It sits between the programme that owes the value and the person selecting a way to receive it. Gift cards therefore compete for an already-funded payout, rather than only for a consumer’s gifting purchase. [S01]
For payouts below $50, Choice Digital reports that gift cards took 67% of redemption choices when offered alongside digital and physical prepaid cards. When PayPal and Venmo were also available, the gift-card share was 36%. The public analysis supplies the two reported menu outcomes but no cell counts, observation dates or matching protocol. The comparison should be read as company-reported platform behaviour, not a controlled estimate of what adding a wallet causes. [S04]
Gift-card choice under two payout menus
Gift-card share of redemption choices for payouts below $50 on Choice Digital’s platform.
%
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Actual selections reported by the company. Programme counts, time window, geography and matched-cohort method are undisclosed. The chart does not isolate a causal menu effect.
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| Category | Reported share of redemption choices |
|---|---|
| Gift cards with digital and physical prepaid | 67% |
| Same types plus PayPal and Venmo | 36% |
Choice Digital had reported more than 300 clients in May 2025, describing both direct utility relationships and programme administrators serving multiple end clients. That distribution model can put a gift card into more payout programmes, but access to a menu and the share recipients choose are separate commercial measures. [S02]
Payout size also changes the choice between prepaid formats
When a programme offers only digital and physical prepaid cards, Choice Digital reports that digital cards take 90% of choices on payouts below $50. Above $500, the digital share falls to 51%. This comparison concerns open-loop prepaid formats, not gift-card uptake, and it should not be combined with the preceding menu comparison. [S05]
Digital-prepaid choice at different payout sizes
Digital-prepaid share where the menu contains only digital and physical prepaid cards.
%
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Company-reported platform selections in two amount bands. Intermediate bands omitted. Exact period, cell sizes and programme composition are undisclosed; neither bar is an overall payout redemption rate.
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| Category | Reported share of redemption choices |
|---|---|
| Payout below $50 | 90% |
| Payout above $500 | 51% |
The public research landing page says the wider report combines a survey of 1,567 US adults with platform data. That survey size is not the denominator for either chart. The complete report requires a contact form, while the public analyses do not disclose the transaction samples or establish that programmes in the different amount bands are otherwise comparable. [S06]
Issuing value also differs from completing delivery. Choice Digital’s February 2023 SurePay announcement describes reminders for unclaimed digital payouts and a mailed alternative after a programme’s configured period. Those are service capabilities, not a published completion-rate improvement. Keeping the distinction clear prevents a choice share among observed redemptions from being mistaken for the proportion of every issued payout ultimately received. [S03]
The $100 million milestone still supplies no method-level volume, comparable prior month or take rate. The added choice data gives gift-card suppliers a more concrete view of competition within the payout menu, while leaving Choice Digital’s revenue, profitability and the incremental effect of its delivery tools undisclosed.
In this article
Suzie Elis
Suzie Elis covers gift card products, digital gifting and distribution for Gift Card News.