Ahead of SBC Summit North America 2022, Todd Sims, VP of Sales, Americas at SUZOHAPP, offers his thoughts on the current industry landscape whilst assessing some new trends to look out for.
What makes SBC Summit North America stand out as an event?
“With the explosion of sports betting in the United States over the past few years, having an event focused on new innovations and best practices for this industry is critical to helping the industry grow to reach its full potential. SBC Summit North America is that event, in a great location, hosted by trusted industry leaders that will help guide the conversations and thought leadership for the years to come.
“SUZOHAPP began participating in the SBC Summit North America last year and it’s proven to be a great opportunity for relevant networking, customer opportunities, and for us, to both have our team share their knowledge on panels and discussions but also demonstrate our unique ecosystem of products for customers allowing them to see in real-time how an end-user would place a bet and get the full experience.
What would you highlight as the biggest opportunity in the US gaming industry over the next couple of years?
“Without trying to sound cliché, sports betting and with it, the potential evolution of esports have the most potential for new growth in the next few years. These are entirely new markets with the same opportunity size as gaming as a whole that can be captured if we, as an industry, roll out a smooth customer transition from digital to retail over the next few years.
“For us at SUZOHAPP we’re focused on that retail experience and looking to make it as easy as possible for our end-users. The days of simply outfitting your location with a standard podium terminal are over. That’s not how customers want to interact with our industry or place bets. If we’ve learned anything from how sports betting evolved in Europe, it’s that the greatest opportunity for this industry lies with in-game betting.
“Our focus is on how we facilitate that and make it a seamless and enjoyable experience for our customers on location. We want to allow our providers to future-proof their systems and partner with a company that is as flexible as the ever-changing demands of this industry as it evolves and shifts quickly.
“The biggest pain point for operations when adding new concepts like sports betting is figuring out how to support them operationally, especially now as resources and staffing are facing extreme challenges post-pandemic.
“We complete the full bet cycle, from the start of getting your voucher or getting a bet slip directly, to placing the bet and all the way to cash out with a linked cash redemption terminal allowing for a completely self-service experience and placing minimal pressure on existing resources.
“We think this approach will help the industry grow exponentially in retail areas over the next few years and as regions open up for the industry.”
What industry innovation will capture the most attention in the next 12 months?
“While this is really broad, automation is what we think will capture the most attention over the next year. We’ve truly reached the perfect storm where self-service is having its time to shine. If we learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that customers sometimes want to do things on their own and avoid interactions or touch points with staff. This is if and only if the user experience is easy and designed to suit their needs. Since coming out of the pandemic, there has also been a significant reduction in the available workforce.
“These factors have set the stage for self-service or automation to take the lead and will be in every operator’s best interest to go after so they can keep their workforce lean while also maximizing on the opportunities that sports betting provides.”
What core challenges do you help solve for your customers/partners?
“SUZOHAPP has been in the industry for a long time. We have the relevant knowledge, the partnerships, and the flexibility to help relieve the burden of hardware for our customers so they can spend their efforts focusing on their games.
We took the idea of sports betting and really did our homework to figure out what we think the end-user wants rather than just following the industry pattern of building a terminal and calling it a day.
“Our ecosystem is unique in setting up our clients for success from start to finish and alleviates the pain points that currently exist in the experience for both end-users and operators. Our years of experience also extend to regulation, which is definitely a large barrier to entry in this market and, while completely necessary, often delays companies as they try to go to market quickly.
“Our experience and knowledge of the regulatory process help expedite the effort to help our customers get a return on their investment as quickly as possible.
Who have you especially enjoyed working with over the past year (partner/client)?
“SUZOHAPP has an incredible network of partners all over the globe. It is honestly difficult to narrow down. Two standouts however would be Elo Touch Solutions and Custom. More than just being manufacturers, both have truly been innovation partners in helping us design this ecosystem to suit customer needs.
“Both are known for their top-tier designs and high-quality products that have stood the test of time in the gaming industry already so we’ve been able to take that knowledge and replicate it for sports betting. We approached them with the concept of wanting to create high-quality products at reasonable prices with a low total cost of ownership and they delivered.
