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BettingBusinessInteractive • AUGUST 2011 Essential guide to ... Fighting ahead


Betfair, which operated 136 ‘arcade’ games, revealed that the branded slot ‘Gladiator’ was its top-performing slot game last year. It added: “We also did well with our exclusive Manchester United and seasonal Christmas and Easter slot games.”


Slots of publicity


Slots of publicity One of the UK’s most successful slot


operators is the high profile JackpotJoy.com, operated by Gamesys, which used Barbara Windsor in a television advertising campaign to great effect last year, bolstering its profile.


Record jackpot Internal use only


Online slots are one of the few areas where operators still have in-house development teams. Before its merger with Bwin, PartyGaming developed the Snow Business and Kung Food slots for its own exclusive use.


The biggest ever recorded online jackpot win was 6.37m euros (£5.6m) - won by Georgios M, a small business owner from Greece, who cleared the prize fund at River Belle Online Casino playing Microgaming’s Mega Moolah progressive slot.


32RED


NEW CUSTOMERS ONLY USED TO 3 REEL GAMES CAN BE EASILY SCARED AWAY


VIEWPOINT


Followers of fashion


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he slots business with its regular income and generally less intensive


Offering something for everyone


32Red operations director Pat Harrison talks about the challenges of running online slots in a competitive market and the potential for the future.


he demographics of the gam- bling industry’s customers are notoriously wide, but 32Red operations director Pat Harrison believes that the online slots sector is one of the few product areas which can cater for this diversity.


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He explained: “Unlike a table game, slots are much more seen as entertainment. There are so many different elements that you have to take into account to appeal to the widest audience. Some players are graphics driven, some enjoy good quality sound effects, others will be financially driven and be much more interested in the payout percentage. It’s a case of being able to offer something for all styles of players within the portfolio.”


Harrison said that the more advanced players may be looking for the low variance games, which offer frequent smaller wins, or the high variance games that offer bigger jackpots on a less regular basis depending on their taste. But that sort of differentia- tion is beyond new customers, who have to


be handled with kid gloves: “You’ve got to be very careful in what you are pitching, certainly to new customers. They might be looking for a nursery slope experience so you don’t want to present them with a black run as that would completely confuse them and switch them off.”


Apart from the obvious allure of the in- creasingly high profile brands being used in slots these days, Harrison thinks that the large jackpots generated by the progres- sive slots can also pique the interest of a first time player. “The progressives mean that slots can now attract a casual gamble. People who will throw a pound at the lot- tery might be tempted in the same way. People see an attractive jackpot and be drawn to that.”


“A lot of bingo players are obviously at- tracted by the slots, but we do get slots-only players, and it is becoming more and more prevalent. Some of the games we’ve had re- cently, developed by Microgaming, have bonus rounds themed around a table game. One currently is themed around roulette


and it’s an interesting way of allowing slots players become familiar with the other products in a roundabout way.” Harrison is also aware that it is a difficult ask to stand out from the crowd in a fairly saturated market for slots. “That’s a chal- lenge for any of us as operators because there are so few gaming providers that you can be one of 30-40 operators with the same suite of games, so how do you differentiate yourself against operators with exactly the same product? This is where you get into the intangible side of trying to deliver re- sults through offering good service or a de- cent welcome bonus - it’s getting the right balance of that in respect of player recruit- ment.”


As for the future, Harrison anticipates the co-operation of two previously dis- parate sections of the gambling industry. “It’s only a matter of time before the online slots are linked in some way with the big land-based casino slots, such as in Vegas, to make an even more attractive proposition,” he predicted.


operational requirements perhaps doesn’t get quite the attention it deserves within the industry. What should be recognised is that slots are actually the most dynamic and fashionable part of the business. The rate at which new slots are launched keeps things new in the players eyes and the fact that many of them these days come attached with a glamorous, well-known brand attached to them is a marketeer’s dream. Not only will a slot game featuring licensing from a popular and trusted brand attract the attention of a potential player, but the association with the brand will also mean that the player will transfer some of that trust onto the operator - which is no mean feat in the world of online gambling. Slots have also benefited recently from the surge in popularity that online bingo has experienced. There is a very considerable cross over between bingo players and slot players, which has helped to make both product verticals even more lucrative. From an operational perspective, they


are also easy to manage because they don’t have the variables of human behaviour patterns that poker and other casino games have to take into account. Indeed, the ‘play for free’ option on a poker table doesn’t provide a replica of cash poker environment because other players act differently than when there’s money at stake. However, a play for free option on the slot machine gives a chance for the players to see if they enjoy the game and whether that game has features they like to see in a slot game. They can also gauge the volatility of the slot game and also get a sense of whether they are going to be lucky or not. So slots are user-friendly, fresh and fashionable. Little wonder that they are so popular with players.


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