New verticals in established markets

Many European markets can now be classed as established and mature, with online betting and casino regulated years ago. Slots have an unrivalled top position in many of these countries but with suppliers constantly innovating, new non-traditional products are being introduced and quickly growing in popularity. In this latest article in our LinkedIn series, we explore the challenges for suppliers with a different type of product in these established markets.

Is there an appetite for unique and fresh content such as non-traditional gaming content in most markets today or are some still reluctant to introduce something new?

?To some extent this is an?unanswerable question - at least at present. All?markets vary slightly, even in?terms of how much and which games are played within the most?traditional casino content offering and the ‘appetite’ in question may be that of the player or the operator.

Many markets?are untapped, so whilst we have every indicator - mobile usage, the?types of recreational games?they play, data on existing gaming products and so on - it?is not necessarily?possible to say categorically that each national player base has the same?appetite.?

What we have seen is that where our games have been launched, they tend to build an audience. It is important that any type of non-traditional content is thoroughly thought out, not just with new generations of players but also to sit comfortably in the existing gaming market.?Understanding what?the purpose is behind the?content?you create is?crucial and you can read more about our thoughts on this here.

It is also fair to say that regulation does not necessarily make it easy for?suppliers of non-traditional?games.?As an example, Portugal has only recently allowed for?certification of crash-games and it?will take some time?for titles like our new release Rocket Racers to make it to market.??

Are some operators too focussed on slot content still and what are the alternatives??

Yes – many are but also understandably so. Slots have brought a huge amount of revenue to many?operators?and because they have been generating this revenue for a long time it is natural that there is both a bit of FOMO around adding slot content and also an over-reliance on them to unearth the next big thing.

As a supplier, we do recognise the role of slots and have a good roadmap of slot content to come out over the next 12 - 18 months, however, we also feel this is an area that can take?innovation.?

In?terms of cross-selling, we feel?strongly that content?should be tailored for the user. In the past, we have seen?‘sport-themed’ slots come and go because they do not genuinely engage with sports bettors, whereas our non-traditional games do because they have been designed with that target audience in mind and have not simply been re-skinned.

Take our Mine Series for example, Goal Mine has an RTP of 92% and is our?best-selling title. However,?this?has not stopped us releasing a?‘World Edition’ in time for the FIFA World Cup 2022, which not only allows players to choose different nations to represent them throughout the game play but also has an increased RTP of 96% and sees players hit the bonus shooting round much more often.?

Basketball?Mine, by contrast, could have been a simple re-skin of Goal Mine, however we have included a swiping round in which players fire a ball at the hoop. This also now comes with a new RTP of 96% with greater player participation in the shooting round.

Tennis Mine, coming out in 2023, will have a bonus round designed for fans of tennis, not a simple rehash of the other sports-themed games.?

What are the most common questions/objections you get to your content?

The principal issue we are faced with is positioning. This is not directly related to our content offering but more to the location of our EasySwipe??games in the sportsbook. We have a number of games that can be classified as non-traditional and they have been thought out specifically with the sports bettor in mind. Whether for cross-selling or player engagement purposes, the titles are designed to be accessed through a widget in the sportsbook.?

Although players can effectively swipe in and out of the games without affecting their betting on the sportsbook, one frequent sticking point is persuading some operators that these games will not cannibalise their sports revenue (in fact, they often add revenue to sport, through increased loyalty).

In some markets, opening games directly from sports betting pages is a totally alien concept so it is naturally difficult to persuade operators. However, I think it can actually help having non-traditional content, because you are offering something different in this space.?

In Italy, for example, it is kind of understood and proven to generate revenue. In Greece, we have recently been the first to launch such a product through Betshop and now, suddenly, we have a lot of interest from major Greek operators. So maybe it just needs someone to have the vision to embrace this type of innovative product.?

By contrast, in African markets, the number of MBs to download the game, as well as the ‘unpacked’ size of the product are common areas of questioning. We intentionally build very lightweight mobile games in any case, but can reduce them further by removing audio, so this helps to mitigate concern around data usage and speed.?