The last few months have been turbulent to say the least – and we’ve seen a number of businesses in the betting and gaming industry diversify their core offerings to ensure that they overcome the hurdles posed by the global pandemic.
Speaking to SBC ahead of this week’s SBC Summit Barcelona – Digital, Alessandro Fried, BtoBet’s Founder, highlighted just how important it is for industry stakeholders to diversify both in an operational sense as well as in terms of content.
What are you looking forward to at the SBC Summit Barcelona – Digital?
As always I look forward to sharing my views with the leading industry experts who will attend the digital Summit. With 2020 being a peculiar year in terms of the actual physical industry events and conventions, and limitations also when it comes to travelling from one country to another, these digital summits have proved to be very important for all the industry’s players to convene under the same “roof” and share their views.
What would be your biggest bit of advice for betting and gaming businesses trying to mitigate the impact of COVID-19?
Business diversification is fundamental especially during these trying times. Operators have had to rethink the business model, with those heavily reliant on the retail channels shifting towards digitalisation in order to ensure a wider revenue stream.
We have also seen diversification from a content perspective, especially during those difficult months where the pandemic had literally brought to a standstill the global sports calendar. Whilst things have since evolved, with the sports calendar resuming and restrictions in most countries removed, there is still an element of uncertainty for the coming months especially if there is again a surge in new COVID cases.
What are you promoting at SBC Summit Barcelona – Digital?
We will be promoting our third generation betting platform, Neuron 3. The approach we have undertaken with Neuron 3 is to ensure a wide interconnectivity between all the channels, whether they are retail or online.
One of the most innovative features, which is key for retail operators is the new retail solution that allows them to target non-registered customers through a rapid registration process in order to transform them into registered players. These registered players at the retail level can then not only benefit from special bonuses, but will be able to seamlessly follow-up their betting experience on the digital mediums.
Another innovative feature that is garnering a lot of attention is the social media betting feature, with operators now able to address today’s players’ strong tendencies to make use of the most popular social communicative platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Viber, and Telegram, for a simpler way to search and place their bets.
This feature will not only allow operators to target digital native customers, and thus as a result increasing the interaction and engagement with millennials, but will also simplify the whole betting process for the players themselves who will now be able to place bets – even multiples – without the need to navigate to third party apps.
What industry innovation will capture the most attention in 2020?
During the past weeks we have launched a new partnership, whereby one of our clients in Colombia – Megapuesta – has started offering a diversified betting experience through Rappi, which is the fastest growing e-commerce app in Latin America, boasting over 30 million users in 10 different countries.
We are living in an era where we have to redefine the conventional channels. Players are increasingly expecting more in terms of the betting experience. Rappi is the perfect example of how new e-commerce channels can become an integral part of the conventional channels that are now associated with the iGaming industry. We expect this innovation to be replicated in other countries, even in more mature ones such as Europe.
Which operator has impressed you the most in 2020?
I would opt to say that what the Logrand Group is doing in Mexico is truly admirable. In a region where the general consensus is that the betting experience is still lagging behind the more mature markets, Logrand are constantly closing this gap through the use of innovative solutions, placing their players at the core of their operations.
What partnership has stood out in the past 12 months?
Looking at the African market I would say that Editec have particularly excelled. The African market is a tricky scenario, that is still characterised by technological conundrums. Operators in Africa also need to generate large gaming volumes to reach revenue levels similar to those seen in more mature markets.
Yet despite these challenging scenarios, Editec have progressively expanded their operations across the vast majority of regulated African markets, and have now bolstered their presence to 17 countries.
Which parts of the conference agenda have caught your eye?
I am particularly looking forward to the panels under the Sports Betting Focus section, particularly the Covid Contingency Planning and the Creating an Omni Channel Experience panels. It’s always interesting listening to what my peers have to discuss.
Further details, including the agenda, full line-up of 200 speakers and list of the 100 virtual exhibitors, are available from the official SBC Summit Barcelona – Digital website.
To join the 10,000 delegates from around the world, click here to register for free.