Speaking about the future of online gambling at the Next.io conference on March 7, an industry panel said that in the future it will be more focused on the individual interests of the players, more engaged with said players and more social.
Online gambling needs to evolve to survive:
Online gambling, which is still in its early childhood stage after a decade, already has to evolve and change to stay alive, according to the panelists when they talked about sports wagering and internet gambling. Additionally, in order to to achieve this, a great deal of effort have to be made to engage punters with the gambling firm’s brand, tailor experiences to their interests and cater to their affinity for communal activities and social media.
In this regard, vice president of US business operations for Playtech, a company which is the creator of sports wagering and online gambling software, Jonathan Doubilet, commented that innovation in online gambling is very important for the next generation.
Then, Las Vegas-based Fifth Street Gaming CEO Seth Schorr is officially launching an online social casino with a Latino-theme in the next 2 weeks, which utilizes his jefebet.com platform and the word “boss” in Spanish. In addition, he renovated and rebranded the Lucky Club Casino and Hotel based in North Las Vegas to Ojos Locos Sports Cantina y Casino at Hotel Jefe.
Commenting on it, he said: “It is a shamefully undeserved market. There are 64 million Americans who identify as Latino with a purchasing power of $3.5 trillion dollars. It’s something I’ve been executing in a land-based casino for 15 years. This is far more dynamic than just having your site in Spanish. We have put together a brand that speaks to the language, the culture, the influencers.”
Clients of the social casino purchase virtual currency for utilization on the site, according to him.
Examples of innovations in the online gambling industry:
The CEO of online slots site for women, Betty.ca, Justin Park, commented that female slot players are responsible for 40% to 45% of the business of the site. In addition, the customer support team of the site is made up of only women because they communicate better with clients., according to him.
In this regard, he added: “Guys are more one-word answers: ‘yes, no.’ They don’t even say ‘bye.’ Women are much more chatty.”
Furthermore, he stated that the firm understood that a large number of its female clients wanted a form of entertainment that they may enjoy at their convenience and quickly, and which would be placed between their domestic and professional obligations. Also, the users of the mentioned site are between 30 to 40 years old, which, according to him, indicates that there is still a demand for traditional gambling products. However, these products must be introduced in a totally new way that will satisfy clients where they are.
Vice president of gaming product for BetMGM, Oliver Batlett, commented that one of the issues for the future of iGaming is coordinating clients with what they want.
Speaking about this, he said, pointing out that artificial intelligence or algorithms can assist clients steer such a wide range of offerings: “We have more than 3,000 games on our site right now.” However, speaking about the industry in general, he commented: “We need to find ways to deliver the right content to the right person at the right time.”
CEO of resorts Digital Gaming Ed Andrewes commented that clients will progressively want “that kind of personal experience.”
The importance of shared experience:
For Karolina Pelc, CEO of BeyondPlay, which designs software for player engagement utilizing jackpots and multi-player gambling, online gambling must see the significance of shared experience and community. Regarding that, she said: “We have to speak to players. That’s where innovation is really important. That’s what’s changing.”
On a related note, the core gambling product, involving slots, will keep exactly the same basic features. Commenting on this, Doubilet stated according to the Associated Press: “What we’re going to innovate is what we plug into them. A new generation of players is coming.”
To support those statements, he utilized a hypothetical example of a client 5 years from 2024 who decided they didn’t want to come to the casino floor searching for a certain slot game. Alternatively, wearing a headset or virtual reality glasses, that gambler can say “I want to look through my goggles and play it right here.”