BETWARE
Online Lotteries: Making the Move
Moving lottery operations online is as loaded with dangers as it is with rewards and benefits. Betware has been an expert in this field for over 15 years…
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“Betware’s fundamental belief is that the future of gaming is online”
etware was founded by Stefan Hrafnkelsson and Ólafur Andri Ragnarsson in 1996 and began its operations by launching the first ever Internet-based gaming solution for state
lotteries: the Icelandic Soccer Pools. It has since grown into an international company with a team of over 100 professionals based in Iceland, Denmark, Canada, Poland and Spain, while its headquarters have remained in Reykjavik. In its time Betware has been delivering a global platform to some of the most innovative national and state lotteries in Europe and North America, including Danske Spil, Islensk Getspa, British Columbia Lottery Corporation and Sistemas Tecnicos de Loterias del Estado (the operator of the online systems for the Spanish National Lottery).
“The company’s goal has always been to partner with customers for continuous innovation and market expansion,” says Ragnarsson, Betware founder and Chief Software Architect. “Betware’s fundamental belief is that the future of gaming is online so everything we do reflects this. At the core of Betware’s offering is a very versatile gaming platform that is secure, open and flexible to manage and integrate multiple game zones.”
In December 2010 Betware was awarded the
Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 Award by the Icelandic Financial News, Vi∂skiptabla∂i∂. In March 2011 the company was nominated as the Lottery Software Supplier of the Year by eGaming Review Magazine.
LAND AHOY
Betware has become an expert when it comes to helping lottery operations make the move to online, as Ragnarsson explains: “The most difficult part of any operator going online is moving away from land- based thinking. There’s a fundamental difference as
46 MAY 2011
for land-based operations the retailer network is THE sales network, delivering 100% of the sales. The introduction of online lottery ticket sales may be seen as a threat to the retailers, so the challenge for any lottery is to make sure online sales do not cannibalize retailer sales but instead support and further increase them. It’s similarly crucial to prepare not only an Internet sales strategy but to coordinate it with all sales channels’ strategies, where each of the channels complements the other and appeals to a different target audience.”
Betware believes one aspect of transition that trips up most operators is the tendency to try and copy land-based business practices over to the online world, and that doesn’t work at all. “What they struggle with the most in the online zone is the fundamental nature of online gaming and what the “new players” in this zone expect or want,” explains Ragnarsson. “There’s a major technological transition that has taken place and the players expect certain elements to be implemented which are not considered in the traditional sales channels. The players expect that the online versions of their favorite games will be fully integrated with social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) allowing them to share their experiences with friends. Additionally it’s important to consider other issues such as enhanced responsible gaming, forgotten passwords, filling of wallets, etc.”.
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